


Rose Tyler Earth Defense

by GunKat



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bad Wolf Rose Tyler, F/M, Gen, Multi, Rose Tyler Earth Defense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-26 13:51:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5007187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GunKat/pseuds/GunKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An account of the years while Rose is in the Parallel world continuing through the events of Turn Left and The Stolen Earth in an attempt to untangle exactly what happened in those episodes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which Rose is left behind

When Pete brought her back to the parallel universe, Rose frantically beat on the wall that used to be a portal between his world and hers, screaming and crying like a mad woman, barely even registering what he said. She could hear a faint warmth rise on the other side, as if he were on the other side of a plastic wall and the heat of the Doctor's body was transferring through the thin barrier from a Universe away. She pressed herself into it, laying her cheek and hand along where his would be, imagining that it truly was the heat of him and the sound of her blood pumping in her ears was his heartbeat. Whatever heat clinging to the wall from the closing vortex finally faded, leaving her laying against a cold wall. The presence vanished and she turned to face her family, still leaning on the wall for support. Pete, the dad she'd never known, Jackie, her mum who loved her more than anything and Mickey. Mickey, who'd stayed by her no matter what she'd done or said to hurt him. She turned back to the wall, reaching out a hand to knock her knuckles against the wall lightly as if she were knocking on a door, asking politely to be let back in. When the insanely jocular voice of the man she loved didn't call out "Who's there?" in a sing song voice, she knew that this wasn't a joke it was real. He wasn't coming to get her, he couldn't come to get her, so she turned and walked away, straight into her mother's arms as they clasped her in.

"Shush." Her mother cooed, stroking her back as she began to shake, before letting her go. "It'll be all right, we'll work it out."

"What do I do now?" Rose asked, scrubbing at her cheeks with the rough fabric over her palm. Pete raised his hands with an awkward shrug of helplessness. Jackie rubbed her hands up and down Rose's arms before squeezing her hand. "I've got nothin' here. And oh god- he's not coming back."

"You could work for Torchwood," Mickey offered. He put an arm around her and she tucked her head into the curve of his neck, reminiscent of the way they used to be. "I've got room on my team, though I think they'd like you in with the squints and pushers."

"Any time you want to come work for us, you have a place." Pete confirmed, squeezing her shoulder and doing his best to be fatherly, but considering the fact that the most fatherly he'd ever had to be was to a small terrier, he didn't have much experience at it. Rose wiped under her eyes with her blue sweatshirt, leaving streaks of mascara behind. She touched her nose with the back of her wrist, sniffling. She looked up at Pete with a watery smile, pulling her hair out of her face with shaking hands to tuck the strands behind her ears. He continued to pat her shoulder awkwardly, before turning to the door way and raising a hand, indicating the door. "We can talk about that later at home."

"Right. Home." Rose parroted, still shell shocked and wide eyed. She seemed to deflate, leaning against Mickey, using him as a prop.

"I'll show you around." Mickey said, reaching a hand up to ruffle her hair lightly before putting the dislodged strands back behind her ear. He kissed her on the forehead before steering her towards the door to get her to leave. "It ain't so bad here, I promise."

"We'll take care of everything." Pete reassured as Jackie held Rose even tighter, trying to protect her baby from everything bad in the world as she'd been so unable to do in the past years.

"We'll build a proper life here, off the Estates." Jackie promised, finally letting Rose go to stand on her own. "We can have the life we always wanted, Pete is very rich you know."

"Yeah, I got that." Rose said sardonically. Even in the depths of her sorrow, she could still be amused by her mother's obsession with money and she had to fight down a grin. Mickey shared a look that he'd likely given her mother when she'd first met up with Pete and claimed that there had never been anyone else. "But travellin' with the Doctor is all I ever needed."

"Yeah, well that's not happenin', Rose." Mickey said, shrugging, leading her out to the van that he had appropriated the last time she saw him. He and Jackie exchanged a glance that proclaimed how close they'd gotten in the few years before he'd left. Waiting for Rose bonded them together in a way that still held even after time had passed. "Lets see 'bout getting you home."

"You still have the van?" Rose asked, bemused. She climbed into the front and her parents climbed into the back to snuggle outrageously. Rose carefully did not look into the rear view mirror as she didn't want to see anything traumatizing. Weirdly enough to see her mother with any of her new boyfriends, but to see her with her Dad was even worse because she knew that he wasn't really her dad, he only had the same face and same heart and that was good enough for Jackie, who missed her Pete with a fierce passion that Rose didn't even think was possible coming from someone so flighty. Rose would have to admit that she didn't give her mother enough credit because the people that she cared about, she cared about completely and selflessly, it was the rest of the world that got the shaft.

"Itsa good van." Mickey protested. "I liberated France with this van. I have a good record saving the world with cars. Saved you at the school with that little crap piece I stole from the garage and saved the Universe with a big yellow truck."

"True." Rose gave a gurgling little laugh, tearing up again at the reminder of her adventures. "You and autos. Saving the world time and again."

"Right." Mickey said, glancing over at her. "Now its me, Jake, Selina, Johnson, you and this ruddy old van together."

"Selina? Johnson?" Rose inquired. These names were unfamiliar, and she was curious whom Mickey had found as allies. Jake, of course, was Ricky's friend from before he died that had teamed up with Mickey to go right the wrongs of the parallel world. It had been good to see him again more as familiar face if nothing else.

"Selina's this randy little bint who is ace with tech, and Johnson's the best crack shot in the world, he'd give your Jack a run on the pins." Mickey said, proud of his team. They had become like family as the Cybermen had gotten out of control. They depended on each other for everything, and there were days that they were snuggled together under an overhang, trying desperately to stay alive and watch each other's back. Those had been awkward as he tried to keep Selina's hands out of his pants. "Speaking of randy bints, how's Jack?"

"Dunno. Last I saw, he was in the year 3000." Rose looked out the window, taking in the dirigibles flying by in stark contrast to the bright blue sky. She leaned against the cold glass, grateful for the cool to soothe her roughened cheeks. "He wouldn't talk about Jack."

They were silent for the rest of the ride home, Rose turning on the radio to drown out the smacking and murmuring noises from her parents in the back seat as they made out like teenagers in their parents car. Thank god the pop songs were the same mindless drivel on this side of the universe, or else she actually would pay attention to the lyrics and would be distracted from her thoughts. She was stuck here, that much was obvious, she might as well make the best of it.

It was a relatively short ride to the mansion from the new Torchwood headquarters and Mickey cranked the van to what was probably far too high of speeds for a rolling metal box that it was, and he maneuvered with the van like he'd been doing nothing but driving it for months on end. Considering that time passed faster on this side of the barrier, that was probably true. She would have to ask him how long it had been later. She clambered out of the van, hopping down the three foot drop to open the door for her mother and Pete, sliding it open with a rasp. Pete went ahead to open the door and Mickey tucked an arm around each of the girls, to lead them to the house as Rose's mum was staring at the architecture of the mansion slack jawed in amazement.

"Welcome," He nodded his head to Rose's. "Back, to the Tyler mansion."

"Blimey." Jackie whispered, "You really meant very."

"C'mon, Jacks." Pete grinned at her with a cocky smile. "It's not so different than the Estates. Got a roof, and walls and some rooms."

"Some rooms!" Jackie said, allowing herself to be pulled out of Mickey's grasp by her returned from the dead husband. "It's bigger than Downing street!"

"All right the pool is new." Pete admitted, enjoying the look on Jackie's face, a mixture of shock, awe and avaricious enjoyment.

"A pool!" Jackie exclaimed, clutching at his arm. "That's right posh."

The two of them wandered off, probably to show Jackie around as they snuggled, and Mickey held out his arm like a gentleman to escort her into the place she would now call home. It was then, when she stepped into the house that echoed with screams of silence that not even her boisterous mother could fill that she came to a realization. If Rose Tyler had learned one single true thing in her time with the Doctor, it was the fact that you shouldn't follow the man with the really great hair, you were just going to get your heart broken. Only slightly less importantly, she had learned that if you didn't take a stand, no one else would and you'd have lost the battle before it even begun. It was upon the realization of this second fact that made Rose come to the conclusion that this world, so strangely similar to her own on the macrocosmic scale yet so drastically different in the details, still needed a hero to stand between Earth and all the aliens out there that would decide that Earth was the perfect place for them to in any way harm.

This world had no Doctor, no man who was like a god of the cosmos, righting wrongs with the flip of a hand, with six little words that could bring down the government, a bluff and a crazy, possibly insane smile perched under wildly unpredictable hair in need of a good ruffle. Who would stand in the way of any oncoming tragedy to guard the six billion inhabitants that blithely carried on their everyday lives, completely ignorant of the dangers that hurtled across the galaxy towards them. They had to settle for the next best thing, Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth.


	2. In Which Rose Decides

They gave her a few days to adjust before Pete came home with a piece of alien tech that looked familiar to Rose and she took it from his hands, twirling around with it in her hands before he could really comprehend that it was gone. Pete grinned at her, following as she put it on the kitchen table before running her fingers lightly on the ridges, making it sing like a choir of angels. "I remember this one, it's a musical instrument."

"That's m'girl." Pete said, patting her back gently. "None of the boys down at the center could figure it out. So."

"No." Rose answered, taking her hands away from the alien tech, shoving them into her deep pockets on the side of her leg, the short hems of pants raising a little bit more. The fashion trends here were different and Rose found herself just a little bit off as she were still a few years behind. "Not yet. I've got to get used the world, it's so...different."

"How?" Pete asked, picking the alien device back up and putting it in his pocket after an inquisitive stroke across the chords, letting the chimes sound in the silence created by her refusal. Rose gripped the back of the chair in front of her, fishing for words desperately as she tried to find the right order of them so as not to offend.

"I dunno, just-sort of...different." Rose said, scuffing her bare foot on the wooden floors, sun warmed from the day. "The clothes are all weird. Too short, or too long. And the dirigibles."

"Of course." Pete said, giving her a clap on the shoulder as he passed her out the door, smiling as he played the ridges gently. Pete shook his head, bemused. "Music. It produces music!"

Rose smiled, getting a glass of water and making herself a sandwich before leaving the kitchen, amused at the childish joy of Pete as he discovered new technology. She was forced to the wall and raised the water and sandwich out of the way as Mickey barreled down the hallway, stopping only to cup her head in his hands and kiss the top of her head before shouting, "Music!"

"What are they on about?" Jackie asked, following after Mickey, staring after the apparent man gone mad, as he pushed his way out the doors. "Pete just ran in, shouted about music and then Mickey ran out after. It was like a show on the telly! I didn't know what to do! Rose! What should I do?"

"Calm down, mum." Rose laughed, peeling herself off the wall and letting her glass of water down. "I just told 'em that the alien tech was a musical instrument."

"Blimey!" Jackie said, "'Ow did you know?"

"Seen it before." Rose took a drink from the glass of water she smuggled out from the kitchen. "Doctor and I came back ahead of our time and we met up with a collector. He had it and the Doctor showed me later after he took it."

"He took it, Oo does he think he is?" Jackie asked, crossing her arms. "Bit pretentious, innit?"

"He is the Doctor." Rose smiled sadly. "He probably invented the word pretentious."

"Eat in the kitchen, Rose." Jackie said, taking the sandwich from Rose to take a bite. She loked down at the sandwich in surprise, wiping the side of her mouth with the heel of her hand. "Ooo well done, good egg banjo."

"Well, it was my sandwich." Rose sighed, going back into the kitchen, with her glass of water and now empty plate. "I guess I'll make another."

With that, Pete's campaign to get her to work at Torchwood began, escalating to leaving his notes about the mansion in unlikely places about unexplainable astronomical phenomena, and bits of broken alien tech for her to figure out. Occasionally, Jackie found them first which was how the charter of the ten nations of Alderbaran ended up being lost behind the refrigerator for a few weeks, almost inciting an intergalactic incident when the Alderbaran hit squad came after their precious artifact only to be told that it had been lost in storage months ago as Pete had listed it, and really, there was no finding it now. Rose had used her finely tuned Jackie sensor to figure out which common place that Jackie lost things was being utilized in this instance. Rose had admonished her mother to stop touching things once again, but it didn't work and she found herself on the constant prowl to get to the alien tech before her mother did, and ended up killing herself. The astronomical phenomena were easier, her mother just piled those up in a corner and forbade the maid to touch them, which meant that they gathered dust until Rose got up the gumption and was bored enough to look at them.

"Star exploding, 78.6 billion miles away. Averted in Parallel Universe. Likely to be occuring now." Her memory had become exceptional after the year 3000 and she could remember every detail of the worlds they visited. She knew that the Doctor never thought she was listening, but the truth was, she wrote it all down in a book and carried it in her pocket afterward. She liked him thinking of her as slow, it meant he prattled on more because he thought she wasn't listening and she learned more than he probably thought to teach any sort of a descendant from an ape. When a stack of pictures of deep space telemetry found ther way to the living room foot rest, Rose sorted them into piles of correct, lens refraction error, and other human telescope error 'cause its so buggering far away. It was the Doctor's favorite game on a slow day on the TARDIS, and Rose had to conclude it was to show her how far advanced that his race was from hers as he never did stop insulting species. Rose was now able to identify the tell tale signs of a mistaken telescope, all the way up to ultraviolet telemetry and down to radio waves.

"So, me mates down at the office are dying to meet this mysterious informant see, the secret expert that Pete has hidden away in his boudoir." Mickey twiddled his fingers to fully represent the mystery of the boudoir. He looked like a twat and Rose had to stifle a giggle behind her hand as she did her best to be seen as nonchalant. Mickey lowered his wiggling spirit fingers in order to cross his arms and look serious."See, I gotta theory, about the similarities between our world an theirs. I think that sometimes things kind of echo between our world and theirs."

"What are you on about, Mickey?" Rose asked, tolerantly amused. She was currently reorganizing the dishes in the cupboard, restacking the china to repair the damage done by her mother only moments ago after Jackie tried to do the dishes haphazardly.

"They call you the Bad Wolf, Rose." Crashing porcelain was the only sound that could be heard in the silence and Mickey danced around, dodging flying china as they fell out of Rose's numb hands. "Oh my god, Rose. Watch it!"

Rose ignored him, her fingers suddenly nerveless, as she stared at him with her mouth open. She mouthed 'Bad Wolf' back to herself, amazed to hear the words on this side of the barrier, completely shaken out of her day to day to hear those words echo in her ears. Two words that herald the end of the world, and the thing she had become by taking the whole of time and space into her head. It, she, had said that she created herself, by spreading the word of her existence around the Universe, but it possibly did so in this Universe as well, knowing that in the future, she would be here. Rose drew in a shaky breath, leaning down to pick up the broken pieces to throw them in the bin. They were words that she never thought she would hear again, and to have them leap out at her from so unexpected of a source was shocking to the core.

"I thought it would surprise you, but I've seen other things echo here." Mickey said, flaunting his superior knowledge of the parallel Universe. He was constantly on edge because of situations such as the "Bad Wolf" phenomenon in which words he'd spoken earlier echoed back, prickling down his spine in a tingle of remembrance. It was an eerie case of deja vu that hadn't happened in this time line as other people spoke your words or came up with your ideas before you even had them. "I jumped when I heard it too."

"You're lyin'" Rose said, wiping off her hands after a quick rinse in the sink. "Quit havin' me on, Mickey. It isn't funny."

"'M not takin' the piss, I swear." Mickey protested. He then began to wheedle her as he wiggled the paperwork in her face. Rose batted at it, to get it out of her face as Mickey danced around. "Come to Torchwood, get them to stop calling you that if you want."

"Mickey, stop it." Rose said, rubbing her forehead with her thumb. "I'm fine here. I'm happy makin' sure that Mum doesn't make this look like our flat by killin' off the maids."

"Happy? Happy sittin' here, day after day doing nuffin but starin' at the walls and hoping for Pete to bring you home a scrap o' work because you're too scared to go out and get it!" Mickey shouted,

reaching out to Rose's shoulders and shake her furiously. He had seen her going almost stir crazy over the past few weeks, and doing his best to remain out of her way had been difficult. "You're going barmy here, Rose. Just come to work for a little while. Check the place out. Get a feel for it. You'll love Selina and Johnson. You'll hate Jacobs, but we all hate Jacobs."

"Mickey." Rose warned, brushing off Mickey's hands to turn away. "I just- dunno. I'm not ready."

"Just think about it, yeah?" Mickey said, reaching out to touch her hand lightly before grabbing a sandwich and leaving for his room in a far wing of the mansion. "Get back to me."

"I will." Rose said, tucking her straggling hair behind her ears, eying Mickey as he left as if he were about to leap at her and attack at a moments notice. He left the notes behind and she flipped them open to the last page, the one she hadn't finished yet before burying her head in her hands, leaning on the sink. She rocked back and forth, biting on her lower lip with her hands clenched behind her neck, as she tried to deny the fact that he was right to herself and failed because he was right. She was more annoyed because of it, because when Mickey the idiot was right, there was something wrong with the situation.

That night at dinner, they were eating the meal made by the cook, slightly singed meat due to Jackie distracting the chef with talk of health and safety in a kitchen, during which the chicken burned. They kept all comments on the over done state of the chicken to themselves though Rose kept mostly to her salad and poked at the meat with her knife, inhaling sharply when the edges flaked off. She discretely sniffed her butter roll and, finding it satisfactorily fluffy and buttered, she ripped it open with relish, chewing while getting herself some more beans. Rose let the rumbling sound of Jackie and Pete bickering amiably carry her away as she sipped the wine on the table and watched the maids bustle about, tending to her every need. When she crossed her arms over her stomach she felt the slight squishiness of soft living and no need to keep running. If nothing else, it was her own swelling body weight that drove her final decision.

"Rose, why aren't you eating the chicken? Are you turning vegetation?" Jackie asked, concerned for her daughter's welfare. Rose stopped pushing her food around her plate and took a long pull of her wine beside her plate, drinking deeply and silencing her reply. Her mother continued. "Do you have vegetarians here? You've been putting on weight but it's no use givin' up meat for it."

"Jackie!" Both Pete and Mickey shouted, watching as Rose merely sat calmly, clenching her wine glass so hard that her knuckles turned with with force and her joints creaked.

"I want to join Torchwood." Rose didn't look up, resuming pushing her beans around her plate with her fork as she spoke. Pete stopped talking with Jackie about inconsequential meanderings and turned to Rose, his daughter by his other self and grinned at her with a paternal joy. She was good at identifying everything his teams couldn't because of her travels and his people desperately needed someone of her knowledge. Plus with that statement, no one would notice that she did not eat the chicken as she was entirely afraid of the fact that it was burned to a crisp the whole way through.

"So I was right, eh?" Mickey crowed gleefully, banging on the table with a clenched fist.

"Absolutely, any time." Pete answered. He rubbed his hands together happily, pleased to have her as an expert on his team. He would be able to stop making up excuses for bringing his work home with him, especially the artifacts that were getting harder to sneak out. They were starting to take a closer look at the discrepancies between the items in storage and the items in the labs. His man on the inside, Mickey, was helping him out by saying that whenever he had to come up with a reason of where the artifacts are, Mickey would claim that they were in his division. "You can start tomorrow. I'll get your paperwork right away."

"What do you want to do that for?" Jackie asked, her voice accusing. "Don't you want to stay here, Rose? Are you not happy here?"

"Mum, I love bein' here, with you, but I need a purpose, somethin' to do!" Rose cried, angry that she had to break her mother's heart by getting back involved with the aliens and outer space. The world that faced danger and dear friends getting hurt every day as they fought to protect everything that they love and the sanctity of their world, free from alien influences. And running from Death as it tripped along behind their heels, chasing their every move, going back into the world of the Doctor which the world of Torchwood seemed to mimic on this world. "I told you before Mum, I can't just sit about, eatin' chips all day, watching after you. I need action, adventure."

"Watching after me? That's a bit rich!" Pete laid a gentle hand on Jackie's arm and she seemed to settle under his attention. "Rose, I just want you safe, here at home. The Doctor took you for so long, and now I finally have you back and you're saying you want to go again?"

"I'll be here at night, it'll just be like I have a job at the shop!" Rose exclaimed, finally putting her wine glass down to stop distracting herself. She knew it was going to be a battle with her mother in order to reconcile her with the idea that she couldn't cocoon her daughter in a blanket of safety.

"Your last job at a shop almost blew you up!" Jackie shouted, shaking off Pete's hand as she recalled Rose's job at Henricks. She'd had many, many sleepless nights in the lost year of Rose's life in which "Can you tell me that you won't die? Can you promise me that?"

"No!" Rose shouted as Pete and Mickey tried to slouch in their chairs and pretend that they weren't even in the room. They should have been used to this as Jackie and Rose had no problems airing their dirty laundry to the world as they shouted their arguments in full view of company. "But I can't promise I won't get run over by a cabbie tomorrow! You can't keep me here forever through guilt an' shame that I left you."

"Yeah, I know, but I can try to keep you safe, Rose." Jackie said, settling back down, knowing that she had lost this battle. She then turned on the two men in the house. She shook with rage as she confronted them. "You put this idea in her head, especially you, Mickey. You just watched as she ran away with a man who almost got her killed in the other universe, why should I think it would be different this time?"

"Oi, that's a bit unfair." Mickey protested. "She's goin' mad, locked up in here. She put herself in, but we need her out there. She's good at what she does, Jackie."

"Mum, I won't do it if you say no, but please." Rose started to tear up, her mascara smudging around her eyes.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. If it's what you really want, then I can't stop you." Jackie said, defeated. She then turned to her husband. "Don't think I don't know you had a hand in this, you did. We'll talk abou' that later. In the mean time, you figure out what to tell people about her and where she came from. She's my daughter, and she's yours too, in another Universe. I won't have you hide her away like a piece of trash."

"We'll figure something out." Pete assured, rubbing Jackie's arm lightly to calm her. "Donalds, down in Retcon has a few ideas that we've been tossing around as soon as we realized they would be needed."

"Well, what is it then?" Jackie demanded, crossing her arms petulantly. "C'mon, tell me. Is it drugs? Mind control? Hypnosis? You just going to go in and muck about and think everything is going to be okay?"

"Could tell everyone you had a bike." Mickey mumbled, waving a hand at Jackie, recalling what Rickey's friend had said to him when they'd been hypothesizing about Mickey's existence. Jackie gave Mickey a look, one that she knew Mickey was used to because of the missing years as Mickey rolled his eyes. "I was just sayin'"

"She's legitimate or we both move out." Jackie said firmly, crossing her arms.

"Jacks, it's going to be taken care of." Pete assured her, taking her hand in his. He kissed the back as he smiled up at her. "Everything will be fine. The press probably won't even catch wind of her at all, Torchwood is very secure."

"To Torchwood I go." Rose said, raising her glass.

"To Torchwood." The rest of them said, except for Jackie who just sighed and downed the rest of her wine.


	3. In which Rose gets a desk and a team

The next morning, Rose woke up to her alarm going off at 7:01 and she had that familiar bleary eyed oh god it's morning feeling as her questing fingers probed for the button to slam. As her blonde hair tumbled about her face, looking a right mess, she smacked her lips a few times before sliding out from under the luridly pink bedspread to wander towards the shower. She floated into the kitchen to join the dance that Mickey and Pete did around each other every morning as they all got their breakfast at the same time. Rose's toast some how ended up on her plate, whole but a little more burnt than she usually liked it. She delicately picked her wet hair, currently plastered to her face as it was still wet from the shower, out of her face as she nibbled on her buttered toast.

"Still up for it?" Mickey asked, devouring his eggs and soldiers as if he were a man on a mission. He watched Rose carefully now, realizing that years of knowing her hadn't stopped her from leaving before, but now he probably knew the signs and could head her off at the pass. If she were going to run away he supposed he'd probably have to go and fetch her.

"Yeah." She said, eyes sleepily half closed and on the table. Questing toes nudged under his thigh to keep warm as she sipped coffee, and he merely lifted up his leg to accommodate her. Pete set his own plate on the table and joined them, putting his own cup of tea next to hers.

"There are going to be questions, do you know what you are going to tell everyone?" Pete asked, curling his hands around his tea and leaning forward.

"I could always tell them the truth, I mean, this is Torchwood." Rose said, smiling. "I am a traveler from a parallel Universe. They'll buy that, yeah?"

"Perhaps its best if you let me do the talking." Pete warned.

"Just let them know she's the Bad Wolf, and you can probably just walk right in the front door." Mickey said, patting Rose's ankles where they protruded from under his leg.

"We can't get in there at all if we don't move soon so go get dressed Rose, and Mickey, don't forget those papers I gave you last night." Pete swept his hand across the table to brush off some of the crumbs, and left the room with a smile.

Rose finished getting dressed, selecting her clothes from the meager amount she had accrued in the time since she had been abandoned here with only the clothes on her back. She didn't like the fashions on this side of the barrier, and had done the best she could to recreate her old wardrobe but it was difficult finding parallel clothes. She settled for a pair of jeans and a long sleeved black shirt and after much internal debate she grabbed a blue over shirt. When she reemerged, Mickey and Pete were waiting for her in the car and her mother stood by the doorway in her dressing gown.

"You take care. Don't let Mickey and Pete work you too hard, they'll do that you know." Jackie said, tucking her housecoat more tightly around her. She fidgeted a little before giving her daughter a hug. "Ooo, Rose. Just be careful."

"I will, Mum." Rose tightened her arms quickly then let her go again. "I'll be home for dinner."

"Good." Jackie said, reaching out to squeeze her daughter's arm. "Pick up some milk on the way home."

"Yes, Mum. Milk an'eggs." Rose repeated, squeezing her mother's hands before hopping into Mickey's beat up van. She slammed the driver side door behind her and waved to her mother as they pulled away.

"Do you remember what we discussed?" Pete asked, flipping through a sheaf of papers to hand her one with numerous cover stories. One of them was circled in red and Rose read over it carefully before asking questions.

"Jackie didn't want to care for children so she sent me out to live with Grandma Tyler. Doesn't that make mum seem a little..." Rose paused, troubled. She fingered the edge of the paper, sliding it between the pads of her pointer finger and thumb uneasily.

"Cold?" Mickey filled in for her, grinning as he recalled all she had done to him in the year Rose had gone missing.

"Unkind." Rose confirmed, closing her eyes briefly to sigh and rub the wrinkle between her eyebrows. Pete leaned forward, his elbow on his knees with his linked hands in front of him.

"Rose, you have to understand." Pete's head slumped on his shoulders. "You met her, the Jackie in this world. She was selfish and greedy. No one would be shocked if you give this as explanation."

"Poor Mum." Rose looked out the window as the buildings flashed by. They were starting to reach the city now and her attention was captured entirely by the brightly colored signs and shop fronts. "She's got a lot to work against."

"She's a strong woman, your mother." Pete said, smiling at her. "She'll set 'em strait eventually."

"Coming up on the Hub now." Mickey said, downshifting to roll into the parking lot. He threw forward the parking break after he slid into the parking space, making the transmission growl uncomfortably. "Welcome to Crazytown."

"Jesus Mickey, I thought you said you loved this car, not that you hated it." Rose released her hands from where they were gripping the handles only after they came to a complete stop. Pete, well used to Mickey's antics, had braced himself well against parts of the van before Mickey's shenanigans began.

"I love this car, cause she handles like a dream, ain't that right, babe?" He cooed as he stroked the steering wheel and Rose gave him a look of gaping astonishment.

"God, I trade one for another." Rose asked, warbling with laughter. She recalled another man, full of manic energy that bounced around, steering his machine with the grace and finesse of an elephant in a china expo who would stroke pieces and whisper sweet nothings into the darkness. She continued, "What is with you men talking to your machines?"

"Us boys, we love our toys." Mickey said, grinning at her while cocking his head to the side.

"Are you two coming?" Pete asked, having climbed out of the car and was waiting for them with his arms crossed. Rose slid out of the front seat and looked up at the tower that reached up to touch the clouds with light fingertips. The large plexiglass windows stared openly at the sky above the horizon and Rose had to tip back her head to see the top window. Pete's office was completely out of view, as it was moved to the top floor when he took over the entire operation of Torchwood. They entered into the great reinforced titanium doorway as the great slabs slid open to allow them. The receptionist was behind a great steel industrial desk and was filing her fingernails. A quick check above their heads found the round bulbs of a fully automated defense system disguised as a tasteful design of light decorations. The British flag fluttered from the second level of the building in a great furling symbol of freedom.

"Good morning Mr. Tyler, Mr. Smith." The receptionist said in the bored tone that is perfected by those who spend their entire day saying hello and goodbye to people. She reached under the desk and pulled out a clipboard with a stack of papers on it. "You'll need to sign your guest in and escort her at all times. She'll need to sign at all the appropriate non disclosure agreements."

"Hello, Gloria. She's coming to work here after today." Pete said, and the lady changed the forms under the desk and handed him a blank badge for Rose.

"I'll catch up to you later. I've got to report to Sheila before she tries to eat my arm off." Mickey said, saluting Pete before heading towards the elevator. Rose waved distractedly at him as she was signing forms. Pete tapped his foot impatiently as she filled them out and she handed them back with a flourish.

"Please remember that even with your paperwork, you are still required to escort Miss-" She checked the papers and her eyes grew wide before she raised an eyebrow before she said, "Tyler?"

"She's my daughter." Pete said, smiling at Rose. "It's a long story. There'll be a memo about it later."

"A memo. Right." Gloria rolled her eyes and waved him with a limp wrist towards the door. "Go. I'm looking forward to what story you cook up for this one."

"This way, Rose." Pete said, clasping her elbow and pulling her to the elevator. The ride up was extremely uncomfortable and the two of them avoided speaking to each other or even looking at each other as the cheerful music inundated them with the fake feeling of happiness that only tinny noises in a small metal box can bring. Rose watched as the numbers inched up to 22 at which point a ding and an automated voice informed them that they were now at the Research and Development department.

"Good morning, sir." The voice greeted them was energetic and cheerful, attached to a young woman with a twitching ponytail as she seemed to vibrate in place. She was of medium height, only an inch or two shorter than Rose herself, but she was built more solidly, as if they had taken Rose's frame and been condensed. She was neat and tidy, with her hair in a smooth pony tail and her clothing perfectly tailored. Her eyes were huge behind her her classic metallic frame glasses which she slid up her nose with the tip of her pointer finger as she twitched excitedly. "Rumor has it you've brought in the Wolf. Is it her, is she the Wolf? Can I talk to her? Is she going to work here?"

"Graham. This is Rose Tyler, can you show her around a bit?" Pete asked. He checked his watch briefly and then squeezed Rose's shoulder. "All right, Rose?"

"Tyler?" Graham asked, her black hair twitching manically.

"You'll get a memo." Pete said offhandedly.

"Go, I'll be fine Pete." Rose said, turning to give Graham an uncomfortable smile. She waved to Pete as he went back to work before turning back to Graham.

"Emma. Emma Graham." The Torchwood employee stuck out a hand to greet her and Rose shook it carefully. "If you will follow me, Miss Tyler?"

"Rose is fine." Rose said, pushing her hair behind her ears as she looked around curiously. The long tables were covered in space junk really, but right away she could identify several improperly stored items. "I've got a good idea of what you all have been working on here, as Pete's filled me in over the past few weeks, so where ever you want me to start."

"Well, Rose, why don't you come meet the team?" Graham said, swinging out a hand to motion her into the next room. Rose followed her through the sliding doorway, shown into a smaller room with five desks, all of which were strewn with paperwork and other small trinkets. Two desks were empty, but the others were occupied by four people, one other woman and two men. The other woman was as blond as Rose herself, and much taller and the two men were similar in height, weight and coloring all of which were average and very brown excepting one of the men's hair. Rose was immediately suspicious of him, as he had some really great hair, all blonde and glistening in the sunlight. Graham tapped her toe behind her twice before beginning to speak. "This is Kirstie Doyle, Marc Jacobs and David Wright."

"Yes, I've heard of Jacobs." Rose nodded, biting her lower lip to keep from smiling.

"Probably someone saying they want to shag me." Jacobs grinned cockily, putting his feet up on the desk and twirling the toothpick in his mouth.

"Smith? I'd heard that he was living with you Tylers." Gaylenor said, smirking a bit.

"Yeah, Mickey said somethin' about him." Rose smiled. Avoiding their eyes, she slid the top paper over as a satellite picture was revealed. A side of her mouth quirked up as she saw a theory written in sharpie next to it.

"So, not shagging." Jacobs said, giving an exaggerated sigh. He linked his hands behind his head as he slid down in his chair and wiggled the toothpick up and down in his mouth. "Unless he's a lot more kinky than we thought. 'Course, there's Jake."

"I think I'm beginning to understand Mickey." Rose murmured, continuing to leaf through the pile of documents on Smith's desk. She automatically began sorting them as she was used to, glancing down at each new picture, as she flipped through them. Graham looked over Rose's shoulder in interest and gave a surprised gasp when she realized what Rose was up to.

"It was you!"Graham exclaimed, grabbing Rose's arm excitedly. "You're the source of all the new answers Pete has been giving us recently!"

"How have you known all of this?" Smith asked, the first words that he'd spoken. He rose to his feet and crossed his arms. "We have been working on this stuff for weeks."

"It's easier to understand what things do, when you've seen it before." Rose said, smiling.

"You're an alien!" Graham shouted.

"No, but I do come from a Parallel Universe of Earth. I traveled with a man called the Doctor and he took me to all sorts of worlds there." Rose confided, knowing that if she were going to be working here, then she had to be honest about where she came from. It would cut down on a lot of lying and make it so much easier in the long run. That way she wouldn't have to remember a cover story.

"You're kidding." Gaylenor laughed. "Good pull. What really happened?"

"No, really." Rose said, smiling at their disbelief. This was Torchwood, you'd think that they would be used to strange things like that and believe her. "But believe what you like, I'm here."

"All right, well, as soon as I clear off this desk, it's yours and you can get to work." Wright said, keeping the peace in the team. He began to sort through the papers on the last desk near the door, signaling that they had not been informed that she was coming. Considering that she had decided last night, it wasn't that unbelievable. Graham gave him a hand, shifting most of the papers onto Jacob's desk, indicating the primary culprit. Jacobs made a nasty face before shifting everything to be more organized on his own desk.

"Thanks Wright." Rose smiled up at him, smoothing a hand over the lacquer. "I've never had a desk before. Next thing you know, I'll have a mortgage."

"Would that be so terrible?" Graham asked, as Rose tried out the chair, twirling experimentally.

"You have no idea." Rose gave her an enigmatic smile and went back to sorting the photos.


	4. In Which Rose gets several surprises

"Mum, I don't think that kind of sandwich is healthy." Rose said, cradling her phone between her ear and her shoulder, flipping through the reports on her desk. "Pickles and peanut butter just seems a bit strange to me."

"Rose." Mickey appeared at the door to her team's office, his face serious. He had been looking rather harried recently, pulling double shifts with his team as they were the best and most successful due to their experience. In Mickey's words, "We're the best because we're not dead yet." The turnover of injured and mortally wounded was astronomical and so prevalent that there was an avid betting pool on who was going to be next. Mickey did not participate because he'd shown an uncanny knack of guessing and they'd begun to think that he could curse people. Rose felt a tingling feeling of foreboding as he hung about in the doorway. He grinned blindingly at her before continuing, "What do you know about Weevils?"

"Look, Mum. I've got to go. I'll let Pete know you aren't feeling well and in the mean time, try to get some rest." Rose said, before murmuring her goodbyes and hanging up the phone. "What?"

"I said, what do you know of Weevils?" Mickey repeated, still grinning.

"Don't hit them with the blue bucket it only makes them rather unhappy." Rose said absently, remembering the comedy of errors that had resulted from grabbing the wrong bucket.

"Rose," Mickey snapped his fingers in front of her nose. "Bring it back, babe."

"Yeah, I'm here. They like raw meat and their lair has a particular smell." Rose wrinkled her nose distastefully.

"You think you could recognize it if you smell it?" Mickey asked, leaning back against her door frame. Rose bit her lip and drew it in to chew on it.

"Probably, it was a very strange smell." Rose said, shrugging.

"Right then." Mickey patted her doorway. "Gear up. We leave in ten."

"What? I have three reports due by tomorrow." Rose protested, waving a hand towards a stack of paper that loomed on her desk. The research team was taking advantage of not only her superior knowledge but also her status of newest on the team by making her fill all of the reports. Graham occasionally would help out, but she was primarily on her own.

"Talk to Pete." Mickey shrugged, not accepting her excuse. Rose foundered for a moment, searching for a reason not to go because she was rather fond of her chair and she had not liked the Weevils when she met them. "Tell him to check you out a vest and meet me outside as soon as you can."

"How do you know I'll come?" Rose asked, twirling her hair around her finger, leaning back into her chair. The rest of her team was out in the lab, looking over a new piece of technology that had come in with Mickey's team not only hours ago. "I really have to finish these reports."

"Cause Pete cleared it about five minutes ago. Now, you haven't got the training so you aren't going to have a gun, but I'll get you as kitted up as I can." Mickey moved forward, placing his hands flat on her desk, leaning over. "Rose, I am in charge of keeping my people alive. You are the best bet of that, and I need your help."

"Okay." Rose answered, standing up. She had that fire in her eye, the one that proclaimed that he gave her something to fight for, to believe in. It was the fire that had killed the idea of Satan in cold blood, sending it into a black hole. It was the resolve that sent her hurtling into the void that caused her to be stuck on this side of the barrier in the first place. "I'll do it."

"Great. See you then." Mickey vanished out of her doorway, heading down to get himself ready and to prepare the team for her arrival.

When she rejoined him, the first person she saw was Jake who came up behind her as she stood in the lobby to fix a strap on her vest. He shifted it on her shoulders, resting it more comfortably between her shoulder blades. He knocked his fist on her shoulder and she turned, smiling. He grinned back saying, "Good to see you again, blondie."

"You too, Jake." Rose said, reaching forward her hand to grasp his. Jake wrapped his fingers around her wrist and shook it, overjoyed to see her again. A very attractive woman and a rugged, wild looking man came up behind him. These must be Mickey's famous team members, Selina and Johnson. Selina sniffed and eyed Rose up and down, obviously feeling as though she were encroaching upon Selina's boys. Considering the problems Mickey said to have with her, it was more than likely a very good guess. Johnson was tall, middle aged and skinny, not looking anything like what Rose had imagined, with a variety of guns strapped to his person in a starburst effect on his chest. Rose nodded at both of them cordially and smiled. "I guess I'm with you on this one."

"I'm happy to have you." Jake said, as Mickey came up behind him, a distinctive clicking noise indicating his weapon was in perfect working order. Mickey clapped Jake on the shoulder before tapping him on the cheek with the inside of his fingers. Jake grinned at Mickey, as Selina and Johnson shouldered what things they didn't have strapped to their body. For Selina, it was a gym bag full of technical devices and for Johnson it was what appeared to be a grenade launcher. Rose abruptly felt very under prepared should anything go wrong. "Selina, Johnson, this is Rose Tyler. She's gone up against Weevils before so she's going to come with us. She hasn't been issued a gun yet so it is priority number one to take care of her and make sure that she doesn't get hurt."

"Hey! I'm not helpless." Rose said, crossing her arms. "It's like being with him again. Stay here Rose, don't touch anything. God, I hate domestic."

"Rose, we just need your nose on this. You're just too valuable to risk." Mickey said, tugging on her hair, and then patting the side of her head. He avoided looking her in the eye by checking out his P90 that was outfitted with all the newest gadgets and gizmos that they had adapted from alien technology. "C'mon, Rose. Can you do it for me?"

"Yeah, I'll do my best." Rose rolled her eyes, as they reached the van. Johnson opened the door for her, motioning that she get in the front before grabbing Selina's shoulders and practically forcing her into the back when she started to put up a fight. He tucked Selina's head down and she slid into the open back end of the van. Jake hopped in behind them two, slamming the sliding door behind the them, barely buckling into the side restraints before Mickey peeled out of the parking lot, whipping the wheel around as he abused his van. Rose gripped the handles of the car. "Jesus, Mickey! Slow down!"

"He drives like an idiot. Nothing you say will stop him." Selina growled, gripping her restraints tightly, her knuckles white with tension.

"Mickey, if you do not slow down, I swear I will start telling stories about your tenth birthday." Rose said, and Mickey gave her a look before easing up on the gas, and slowing down enough to take his eyes off the road. Selina made a noise of anger and astonishment, annoyed that Rose managed in a minute of Mickey's driving what she'd been trying to do since she met him, years ago. Of course, she didn't have the weight of childhood stories behind her punches, a weight that Rose found comforting when she found herself relieved of being thrown about in her seat.

"That's fighting dirty, you know that right, Rose?" Mickey said, reaching over to slug her in the arm.

"Yeah but I'd rather fight dirty than dead." Rose said, slugging him back. Mickey laughed, pulling onto a larger street easily. He actually was a very good driver, he just enjoyed pushing his precious van to the limits.

"Personally, I think that if she can get Mickey to slow down, I welcome Miss Tyler." Johnson said stoically, rubbing the stubble on his cheeks in relief as he didn't smack his head all over the place as normal. The rest of ride was in silence, in case of Selina, a sullen one until Rose turned on the radio, letting the sound of pop rock music to drown out Selina's muffling anger and Jake's snuffling laugh that started as he watched Rose cow Mickey easily and continued through Selina's unhappy growls. When they arrived at the scene, there were some lower level Torchwood agents securing the area and they flashed them their badges before entering into the cordoned off area. Rose had to dig a little deeper into her clothes, searching her pockets before handing it over.

"Tyler, eh?" The burly man checking her id. "I got that memo. You're Pete's little girl, right?"

"Somethin' like that, yeah." Rose said, snatching her id out of his hands. She followed the rest of them, sliding under the caution tape easily. Johnson was crouched next to a young woman who was drinking a cup of coffee. She looked visibly shaken, detailing her encounter with the Weevil. Johnson nodded, standing up as she finished. Selina brushed her hand over the woman's cup while Jake distracted her with a charming smile and polite conversation, administering the Retcon easily. Most of the population accepted that aliens exist and Torchwood was saving the world but when they wanted to have the bad things remain in their memory, they wore a wristband much like the do not resuscitate stickers. Her wrists were bare so Selina felt no shame making her forget the last few hours of trauma. The girl's own mind would supply a plausible explanation for the scratches and gouges on her arms and she would be none the wiser in the morning.

"We got a lead?" She asked as Johnson stood up, brushing off the knees of his trousers where he knelt.

"She says that it came from the direction of Tangea and Queensway." Johnson said, motioning towards the mentioned streets.

"So we go the opposite way?" Rose asked, and Mickey, joining them, shook his head in negation.

"Weevils come from a nest. Where there is one, there are more and we need to get rid of the source of the problem, not searching out all the little brush fires." Mickey explained, guiding her shoulders towards the crossing of the two streets. "You smell anything yet?"

"Not yet, no." Rose said, giving a delicate sniff, wrinkling her nose to breath in.

"Selina, Jake." Mickey cocked his head to the side, nodding towards the roads. "We're following Johnson. He's got us a trail."

"Yes sir." Selina said, filing out the door after the burly arms man as he took to the streets. They got about five minutes away from the initial site when Rose stopped short.

"I've got it, Mickey, but it's really faint." Rose said, taking the lead now that she knew what she was looking for. She tried to go faster, but Johnson grabbed the back of her jacket, gripping it in his fist and pulling her up short so as to keep her with them.

"You haven't got anything to protect yourself and your brain is very important to everyone back at headquarters. You stay back here and let me deal with it." Johnson said, pulling out two of his guns, one in each hand, and taking the lead. "Just point me in the right direction, missie."

"Um, all right then." Rose nodded, pulling her lower lip into her mouth to chew on it, agreeing with the sensibility of that statement. "Keep heading north. It didn't travel in a strait line, but that's where it's been heading."

"Right." Johnson nodded, taking the forefront. Jake slowed down to cover their rear in case one of the Weevils decided they were an easy mark and Selina and Mickey flanked Rose, surrounding her

"Are you sure you all can't smell that?" Rose asked, covering her nose with a hand and sniffing the sweetness of her own skin, preferable over the stench of the Weevil nest. "Phuah. That is vile."

"Really, can't smell a thing." Selina snarked, rolling her eyes in annoyance. Selina turned to Mickey, clasping his elbow in her fingers. "Are we sure that she can actually find this?"

"Hold on a bit." Mickey held up a hand, sniffing deeply. He clapped a hand to his mouth and retched into the gutter. "God, Rose, what is that?"

"That, is a Weevil nest." Rose said, smiling cheerfully at his discomfort. "Disgusting isn't it."

"What, now you can smell it too?" Selina asked, snorting in disbelief.

"We're..." Rose rubbed Mickey's back with her hand in comforting circles as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. She fished a handkerchief out of her shirt and handed it over to Mickey for him to put it over his mouth. "Breath shallowly and try not to think about it. We're not from around here. We could just be a bit different. He just took a bit longer to adjust than me."

"Oh, that's easy to follow, yeah." Mickey said, tapping Johnson on the shoulder and taking the lead on the team, taking them to a manhole cover and turning it. "It's down here. You were right about the smell being peculiar. Johnson, you stay here with Rose. She gets hurt, I shoot you."

"Yes, sir." Johnson grinned, putting his pistols away and pulling out something that was of much higher caliber. He unshouldered a larger gun and tossed it to Jake who caught it easily, grinning at him. "Take care of my baby, Jake."

"With my life. As always." Jake said, cocking the gun with a fluid motion. "Thanks for the equip."

"Let's go." Mickey motioned, and he lead the way with his gun up and ready, sliding into the hole, his teeth white against his dark face as he jumped. Selina was more graceful, floating down like a ballerina and Jake practically dove into the hole gleefully. Rose took a step back with Johnson and he shouldered his massive gun before tucking her head down under an overhang to wait with him. Rose heard a blast of weapons fire from inside the sewer and she started, hitting her head on the low hanging ceiling.

"Sorry, can't get used to the guns." Rose said, rubbing the top of her head, and smiling sheepishly. "They're very...loud."

"Yep." He popped the p sound, leaning back against the wall and sliding down it to rest his legs in a crouching position as the gun fire faded from earshot.

"I'd feel much safer if I had my own." Rose said pointedly, gesturing towards his starburst arrangement. She had never been much for guns when she was traveling with the Doctor, but now that she was on her own, she did see the appeal. She'd held one before, on the space ship with pre-revolutionary France and had decided that they did have merit for one's own protection when she did not have access to the Doctor's extraordinary brain and experience.

"Have you had the required training for Torchwood personnel?" Johnson said, raising an eyebrow. The requirement for training was relatively new to the program, but it was seen as a necessary addition due to the need to protect the Torchwood offices should there be a breach. All personnel were expected to be the last line of defense to go up against any threat.

"Well, no. But I catch on fast." She said, smiling winningly at him, knowing that he didn't know her well enough for it to be as effective as it could, but hoping that it was at least a little softening. She batted her eyes for a little extra effect.

"Protocol states that I can't give you a gun under any circumstances." He looked up, clasping his hands around his knees, twiddling his thumbs absently and avoiding looking her in the eyes directly.

"You can't give it, but can I take it and you just sort of, not hurt me when I try?" Rose asked, fluttering her hand towards his chest, her fingers almost touching one of grips. He twiddled his fingers faster, and she almost worked up the nerve to take it when Johnson's radio went off.

"T-1 this is Pete, do you copy? T-1 do you have Rose with you?" Pete's voice, crackly and confused came through the bulky radio strapped to Johnson's upper vest. They hadn't given one to Rose, stating that she wasn't going to be going far enough away from one of them to need it.

"Yes, Pete. This is T-1 Johnson and Rose is right beside me. I read you, Pete." Johnson said, curling his head around to talk into the radio. Rose, intrigued, pushed off of the wall and bent her head in closer to listen.

"Rose, is there something wrong with your mother?" His voice, while a bit muffled with static, was concerned. Recalling her phone conversation with her mother, she rubbed the line in the middle of her eyebrows, smoothing out the frown with the heel of her hand. Rose reached out hesitantly before pressing the button to speak through Johnson's shoulder.

"I dunno. She has been feeling a bit ill lately, but why do you ask?" Rose let go of the button and gave Johnson an awkward smile. The burly man leaned towards her to offer his shoulder more easily. Rose frowned. "She keeps stealing my food."

"She just called up my office, and was crying into the phone, asking me if I loved her or if I loved and I quote this "The unreasonably cruel facsimile of her that would rather have a dog than a wonderful child." I think she meant you by the child." He sounded terrified of Jackie, which was a fair assessment of anyone's feelings in regards to Rose's mum. "Then she asked me to pick up some ice cream and marmalade."

"What?" Rose asked, "What does she want with that?"

"I think she was going to eat it." Pete sounded a bit revolted as he paused to consider it as she was, the weird combination of tastes making her contort her face in disgust.

"That's disgusting." Rose said shuddering a little in horror. Johnson took the radio out of her hands, and raised an eyebrow.

"Pardon my intrusion sir, but it sounds like when my wife was pregnant." Johnson said, speaking softly into the radio. He was trying to be gentle, but really, he looked like he was about ready to burst into laughter at any moment. "The missus ate the strangest things with my first little one at home. She needs to go to the doctor to get checked out, but really, I think that's what it is, sir."

"I didn't know you were married." Rose said, blinking at the tall man with far too many guns. She couldn't imagine for the life of her the type of person that would be married to such a beanpole of a man. Rose pulled the sides of her mouth down. "Imagine that."

"But that's impossible!" Pete's panicked voice came over the radio. "We haven't-wait."

"Please don't continue with whatever made you take that statement back." Rose said, wincing. She rubbed the sides of her head and then clapped her hands over her ears to block out anything else that might have been forthcoming. The idea of the two of them together, no matter what, was still a little uncomfortable. Rose shook her head. "Just don't."

"Oh god, what do I do?" Pete asked, his voice scared over the wire. Johnson looked at Rose and then pressed the button to speak deliberately.

"Well, Rose turned out all right. You were there for that, right?" Johnson laughed.

"Not exactly." Rose said, ticking with her tongue as she bobbed her head back and forth. "It's a long story and there was a memo. He wasn't there for my birth technically. Or at all, really."

"That is very strange." Johnson said, shaking his head.

"In the mean time, Pete can you clear me for weapons handling?" Rose asked, and Johnson gave a little chuckle at her audacity. "I'm a little afraid to be sitting out here without having anything."

"Quick course, the end that goes bang is pointed towards the enemy at all times." Pete's voice crackled in shaky amusement at Rose. "Take the full class as soon as you get back but in the mean time, have Johnson teach you the basics."

"Yes, sir." Johnson said, ruffling Rose's hair, abruptly his familiar and fatherly treatment of her made a lot more sense even though he didn't look old enough to have a kid. He was better at it than Pete was who always seemed to be just a little lost.

"End that goes bang goes towards whatever I want to shoot. Got it. Johnson?" Johnson let her take one of his pistols out of the starburst formation and rearranged her hands to hold it more correctly. Suddenly, a Weevil burst out from around a nearby building, and Rose gave a yelping scream while pulling the trigger as it lunged towards them. Johnson scrambled for his own gun as her smaller Glock bucked, shooting the Weevil. She had a weak grip and being badly balanced making her fall over causing the semi auto made a beautiful arch upwards from the first shot causing Mickey, who was just beginning to emerge from manhole to duck his head back down with a shout of fear. Johnson, with his own gun still held in one hand, clapped Rose on the shoulder.

"Good job." He stood next to her and went to go check and see if the Weevil was dead, tucking his fingers under it's pointed chin to see if there was a pulse. "Nope, she got it good. It's not going anywhere. Well done, Rose."

"I think it was an accident." Rose looked at Johnson with wide eyes, relaxing her grip on the Glock and Johnson took it from her gently, clipping it back into place at his chest.

"We're clear. Come on up, Smith." Johnson said, heading over to the manhole to help Mickey up from the hole.

"She's shooting. Who gave her a gun?" Mickey asked, panic in his voice making it as high as a choirboy. "Why does she have a gun?"

"Pete told Johnson to give me one and teach me how to use it." Rose said, her voice shaking and she remained on the ground as she did not trust her knees to stand.

"Good instincts." Johnson complimented her, reaching down to help a filthy Selina out of the manhole. Next came Jake, who was equally as filthy, but much more cheerful about it as Selina looked like she wanted to kill something.

"Thank you." Rose replied, tucking her arms around herself as the night had become abruptly cold. "Did you get them all?"

"We missed one, but you got it, so cheers, mate." Jake said, giving her a nudge on the shoulder and leaving a streak of grime behind.

"I see you had a clean night." Selina said, rubbing disgustedly at her clothes, being covered head to toe in grit and goo.

"Yeah, a bit." Rose said absently. She stood finally, brushing her hands over her bum to clean it, before handing a pack of tissues and a water bottle out of her pack to Selina. Selina stared at her gift suspiciously for a moment before accepting it with a mumbled thanks. She knew she was acting like a beast the whole night and was humbled by Rose's attempt to help. "Sorry."

"Any excitement at all?" Jake asked, rubbing at a particularly tough streak of something across his cheekbone with a lacy handkerchief that appeared out of nowhere, from deep in the recesses of his black uniform, being whisked back a way almost as suddenly.

"Well, I fired a gun for the first time, and I think Mum's pregnant." Rose said frankly, looping her thumbs through the armholes of her vest.

"I leave you alone for ten minutes! Yeah? TEN MINUTES." Mickey shouted, throwing up his hands.


	5. In which Rose  thinks  she's going  mental

Rose practically moved into her office at work, her desk becoming indistinguishable from the rest of the team as papers piled up when the reports came in faster than she could finish them. Her mother's incredible mood swings were volatile enough that both Pete and Rose were taking refuge at the office as she terrorized anyone within her grasp. The maids were close to rebelling against her tyrannical rule but Rose's pacifying nature kept the peace whenever she was around, but she was being driven barmy as well.

Rose. Rose heard the voice behind her left shoulder and she turned to give Jacobs a frown as a whisper of breath ghosted across the back of her neck. Jacobs didn't look up from where he was chowing down on a toothpick while he thumbed his way through the reports from Emma on a case of alien technology that he would be picking up from her as she went on vacation. He looked too innocent even for a prank that he were playing, he never could resist chuckling at his jokes but he was surprisingly calm and focused. She turned back to the front, putting her feet up on the edge of her desk with her long boots crossing over at the ankles and her short skirt inching up just a bit farther. She unwrapped a lollipop and licked it thoughtfully before glancing back at Jacobs. Nothing, he continued to focus entirely on his work, rubbing the crease of the skin between his eyebrows with the pad of his thumb. If there was nothing else, he would have been cracking up laughing now.

She didn't hear it again, but she forgot that she was sitting provocatively and was subject to a couple of lascivious comments as soon as Jacobs realized what she was up to. She left the office late and met up with her mother at the door.

"Rose, I can't believe it, 'ow late do you think it is?" Jackie asked, crossing her arms. Rose looked down at her owlishly, rubbing her irritated eyes.

"Good to see you too, mum." Rose said tiredly, brushing past her into the house to lay back on the sofa and put her feet up on the coffee table. She made an ineffectual motion towards her boot clad feet to try and take them off, but she couldn't quite make it and flopped back onto the cushions. Rose flopped her arm over her eyes and moaned. Jackie pulled her daughter's feet into her lap before beginning to help take off Rose's boots.

"Are you all right, darling?" Jackie asked, patting Rose's shins, concerned.

"I think I'm going mad." Rose mumbled from under her arm. Only years of experience with her daughter's incredibly sleepy or drunk mutterings allowed her to translate Rose's words.

"Why d'you say that?" Jackie asked, lifting up Rose's arm to talk to her. After flopping Rose's arm above her head Jackie brushed Rose's hair out of her eyes. Rose shoved her face into the cushions, admiring the lovely flowers that were smushed into her nose. "Rose?"

"I keep hearing someone call my name. It's enough to drive me mental." Rose said, as her mother grabbed a handful of grapes off of the coffee table. Jackie proceeded to feed the grapes to her daughter who munched thoughtfully.

"Maybe it's low blood sugar." Jackie reasoned, continuing to stuff food in Rose's mouth. Perhaps she was trying to share the fact that she was bloating up like a blimp in expectation of her child with Pete by making Rose put on a few pounds as well, especially since she'd shed the little weight she'd gained from before, with all the running she did out with the Torchwood team. She'd never been this fit since she had to run for her life with the Doctor. She gave a little hiccup like she was going to cry and Rose patted her arm consolingly. "I sometimes see funny things when I 'aven't eaten."

"Mum, I ate a big lunch." Rose protested, grumbling around a mouthful of grapes. Rose gave a little snort as some of the juice began to dribble out the side of her mouth, so she dabbed it with the corner of sweater.

"Very attractive, Rose." Jackie said, laughing and flopping Rose's arm back over her eyes.

"Yeah, Mum." Rose mumbled, pulling the pillow over her face and tucked it under her crossed arms. "I think I'm going to head to bed, then."

"Sleep well, Rose." Jackie said, levering herself off the cushions to wander into the kitchen and Rose made a fluttering hand motion of farewell over her shoulder. Rose went upstairs, changed into her comfy polka dot pajamas and crawled under her new white comforter with the single mindedness of a woman who was technically working two jobs, one at her desk and the other out with the team, and dealing with a pregnant mother with insatiable cravings as well as drastic mood swings. She snuggled deep into her pillows, crunching them around her head. She fell into a deep sleep almost instantly.

Rose! Rose sat up, hair flying as she startled out of bed. She knew that voice, it was so familiar as it rumbled through her bones, vibrating her muscles and nerves. It was the most precious voice that she had, ringing in her ears with a familiar tingle and she panted as the fragments of a dream scattered leaving her with an impression of a beach and far distance. She bounded out of bed to pound on her mother's door.

"Mum. Mum! Pete!" She shouted, and Mickey's door, down the hall, opened and his sleepy head popped out as he rubbed his face and massaged his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"Rose, what are you on about?" Mickey asked and Jackie opened the door, tying her housecoat around her own pair of lacy pink pajamas. Pete loomed behind her, still pulling his arms through his own brown housecoat.

"I had a dream, the Doctor, and I- I don't know!" Rose said, chewing her nail furiously.

Both Mickey and Jackie started shouting, asking how she knew, how he had done it, how she could know and what he had said. Pete, ever sensible, stepped out into the corridor, pushing Jackie ahead of him gently while saying, "I'll get one of the maids to start the fire, lets take this downstairs."

When they were all settled, Rose tucked one of the pillows under her arm, and played with the tassels while the others got themselves ready to listen to her.

"I had this dream, um...In my dream, there was, I think, there was the Doctor, and he was calling me." Rose tried to put the fractured feeling of the dream into words. She twirled the tassels around her finger tightly, doing her best to make them understand the urgency, the feeling that the dream, however unlikely, was true. They surprised her, they'd met the Doctor, they'd seen the things he could do, they believed in her.

"So we're going on a trip then?" Jackie asked, patting Pete's leg as he nodded, taking it all in. "Ooo I'll get the snacks. Anyone fancy some tea for the road?"

"I've gotta call Jake, have him to check in on Gran while we're out. Any idea how long we'll be gone?" Mickey said, putting out his hands to pull Rose up to stand.

"And for heavens sakes, everyone put on some clothes, it's going to be cold in the jeep." Pete said, standing himself to gather the household staff give them instructions on what to do with the mansion while they were gone. It would be like a holiday for the staff without the lot of them to pick up after. "We'll have to take the old thing because Mickey broke the van at the absolute right time again."

"So we're all goin' then?" Rose asked, her voice cracking with tears that they were all so ready and willing to pick up and go for her.

"Of course we are, Rose. Well, I'm going because if you're going to leave with him, then I want to say goodbye." Jackie said, realizing instantly that if these dreams meant that the Doctor was going to come pick up her daughter to travel about with again, then a proper goodbye would be all she got. Rose would go, no questions asked, she'd made that decision once and she'd make it again just the same with nary a second's longer hesitation knowing that she'd be missing her brother. Pete put an arm around her, as she burst into tears, clasping her daughter to her chest, burying her hand in Rose's hair. "I will say good bye."

"Oh, Mum." Rose mumbled, grasping her mum's shoulders to her as she sealed away the smell of her mother's hair, the warmth of her arms and the slight softness of her stomach that hid a new life, into her memory. Rose began to cry herself, and Pete and Mickey absented themselves fleeing hormonal woman in a primitively ingrained response.

"Well come on then, we need to pack, cause of course the Doctor didn't give you a clue 'bout 'ow far. Is it cold where we're going? Will it be cold? Will I need to pack a jumper?" Jackie asked, letting go of Rose to go into Jackie mode. She seemed to pause or a moment and then back tracked. "Will it be warm?"

"Dunno, Mum." Rose chuckled wetly.

"Oh, it's going to be just like our hols when you were in primary!" Jackie said, dashing out the door excitedly. Rose wiped her eyes as she followed her mother out. She threw several pairs of clothes into a bag and met her mother before she took it from Rose's nerveless fingers and Pete and Mickey's urgency began to infect her as the three of them hopped into Pete's old jeep, slamming the doors as they piled in. They followed the voice as it echoed in her ears. Across the water. Kept on driving hundreds and hundreds of miles. Because he was calling. And then there she was, and this is the story how she, Rose Tyler defender of that Earth, the one on which she was born and lived 19 years of obscurity before she died.

She ran a bit forward, the tugging becoming stronger, with the wind whipping her hair around her face. Rose took a breath and turned around.


	6. In which Rose  finds Daleks less daunting

It would be several weeks after the Doctor abandoned her on the beach in Norway, or what this universe constituted as Norway before Rose stopped trying to make crying over a man into a marathon sport. She refused to go in to work and Mickey, fed up with the fact that she wouldn't even open the door when he knocked so he could reassure her that he was still here, still waiting, was long gone in France with Torchwood One, investigating some rumors of Cybermen. Whenever the rag tag group of resistance fighters had down time, he'd come back to check on her, but it was only out of deference to their old relationship as the strange friendship that had blossomed with Jake was swiftly eclipsing their former love. Jackie was at loose ends of what to do with her until suddenly, Rose cleared up like the sky after a storm and she was back being efficient and wonderful. She went back to Torchwood with her squints and Emma looked relieved to have her back. Jacobs looked annoyed as he had to clean off her desk again and the other two merely smiled and welcomed her back. Her decision to come back came as a direct correlation with coming to the realization that most of the head scientists on this planet were complete idiots, no offense meant to her colleagues as they were the only moderately kept up, but after the third time she had to correct Emma's work, she realized she might possibly be the only hope for this world surviving long enough for her to do anything of consequence.

"Heading a team at Torchwood might be nice." She missed Torchwood one, Jake's easy smile, Mickeys complete attentiveness, Johnson's fatherly advice and even Selina's simmering dislike. She missed how well they worked together, like a well oiled machine, completing the failings of the other members for a iron clad whole. She absentmindedly flicked open the curtains to look out over the grounds that were lit in a rosy glow of mid morning sun. Her mother waddled past her in the corridor to sit on the couch with a maid depositing the load of laundry next to her after flashing Rose a panicked glance. Rose gave the maid a reassuring smile before motioning her on with her duties, she'd take care of her mother. Rose collapsed into a large, overstuffed leather chair and said, "Perhaps I'll ask Pete."

"If you think that Pete's just going to give you a team at Torchwood, you think again. He's worked hard to become the head, and you could do with a little hard work yourself." Jackie chastised as she folded her refound husband's clothes during what Rose fondly called her mother's rabidly nesting stage of her pregnancy. Jackie had already tidied and babyproofed the entire mansion, dodging the maids as they tried to work around her with Rose trailing afterward, to carry everything. She assured the disapproving women that tried to help, that she'd babyproofed their flat before with Rose, and she turned out all right, to which Rose merely mouthed I'm lucky to the maids before setting her feet back on the foot rest after they dusted it. "Traveling with the Doctor gave you airs and graces."

"You said that 'bout my working in the shop!" Rose protested, picking up a magazine that had escaped her mother's holocaust, thumbing through until she found a likely looking page and snuggling down into the large, squishy cushions. She paused, with her finger flicking over a page with a full length ad for Oxford University and then raised that finger to tap on her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Best thing about this Universe? No Jimmy Stones."

"What are you on about?" Jackie asked, careful of her burgeoning belly as she scooted over on the couch next to Rose. Rose held up the ad for her mother to read. Jimmy Stones had talked her out of taking her A levels and going to Uni, in order for her to remain.

"A levels." Rose stated firmly, brandishing the magazine like a weapon to fend off her mother's probing. "I could take A levels."

"A levels?" Jackie asked, blinking at her. Jackie's hands stalled as she paused in folding a particularly strangely shaped shirt with straps and buckles that Rose had found and said reminded her of a shirt she once wore many thousands of years in the future on a different world.

"My GCSEs were good, I just got a bit distracted." Rose said, flipping her hand at her past self's follies. Her distraction had cost her Uni and 800 pounds as she thought hanging about with Jimmy the self proclaimed musical genius had been a better idea, one she had regretted ever since. As a thought occurred to her, she raised an eyebrow. "And here, I never got suspended."

"Distracted? There's a laugh." Jackie said, shaking her head. "Distracted is forgettin' your keys on the bureau, that was when you messed up your life entirely."

"Mum!" Rose chastised, glaring at her over the top of the magazine. It was an old argument, one that her mother was never going to let her forget, as it was the reason she'd have to talk to her old boyfriend again to get Rose that job at Henricks which she'd subsequently blown up.

"So, 'ow do I sign up for my A levels?" Rose asked, wiggling her top foot over the other as she finished her magazine.

"I'll ask 'round a bit, but you were signed up through your college." Jackie shrugged as she folded one of Rose's smaller t-shirts and stacked it on top of several others that bled beads and sparkles all over the coach.

"Torchwood'll probably take up the tab and I won't have to pay anything. Makin' me smarter's got to be worth somethin' to them." Rose shrugged, cavalierly ignoring the fact that it wouldn't be much to pay for her education and considering that Pete was a billionaire, he'd be more than willing to help out. There was a sort of vicious satisfaction of having the world's alien police pay for her education.

"What subject d'you want to study?" Jackie asked, moving on to matching up socks and frowning as she couldn't match half of them, as they had unique designs that didn't pair with any of the loose socks from that load. Jackie growled in frustration as she slid a hand in the crease between the seat and the back of the couch to search for any socks that might have done a runner. She moved awkwardly around her rounding stomach, and Rose stifled a giggle behind the magazine.

"Physics." Rose said. She looked shocked at her own answer, and pulled her magazine down, chewing on her bottom lip. She mulled it over for a moment and then grinned. "Yes, physics. Physics, physics physics physics physics, phyyyyyyysics. HaHA! Physics."

"Are you quite mad?" Jackie asked, staring at her daughter.

"Quite possibly so." Rose said, her grin widening as she felt happier having a plan, a decision, and more importantly, a purpose. Much as she loved her team of squints, they could take care of themselves well enough, and she needed more than that. "But yes, Physics. That is what I'll study."

It took several meetings with counselors at the schools and soon she was set to take her exams after nine months to revise everything that she had learned her last year in school. Theoretically it should have been harder for her, but it was actually easier for her to work on learning everything than in her seventh year because she no longer had the distractions that had been so apparent. She was already living practically as a shut in as the media attention would be incredible if word got out that she was Pete's long lost daughter. Her hands fell to her side as she realized that the only people she knew in this world were her Mum and Torchwood even at her most pathetic, she had friends to go out with.

"Oh god, I've got to go to Uni to get a life!" Rose said, horrified as she came to that realization. She tossed the magazine on the table and tucked a pillow under her jaw, curling her top lip in disgust at herself. "This is just sad."

"Yeah, well." Jackie said, finishing up her folding with a pair of Pete's socks.

The next day, Jackie tossed the application to Imperial University, sliding it across the kitchen table with a flick of her wrist as Rose sat drinking her afternoon tea on this pleasant if slightly fuzzy sunny day. She continued to sip her tea as she flipped through the application when she reached the end, she stared at it, running her fingers over the raised lettering. Rose twitched her lips and a small smile curled up the ends of her mouth. "Mum, I'm pretty sure that my GCSE's aren't good enough for me to get into Imperial."

"Ten minutes from London, that't'd make it make it forty minutes from here. Easy enough drive, and I'm sure Pete'd let you borrow the dirigible." Jackie said dismissively. "And you just have do well on your A-levels then, won't you?"

"Mum, do you seriously think I could do it?" Rose asked, crossing her legs at the ankle to keep her leg from jiggling as she thought furiously. She would need to study more than she ever had in her life, but considering that she had more time, and less inclination to party now that her liver probably would have more to say about it.

"Good Physics programme." Jackie diverted, crossing her arms as Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Any particular reason this Uni?" Rose asked, being unusually perceptive when it came to her mother because generally she was of the opinion that her mother was unbelievably flighty and unreliable. Jackie shifted a bit on her feet, looking anywhere but at Rose. "Mum?"

"It was the University I always wanted you to go to." Jackie said quietly. "Y'know. Before your Da died."

"Oh." Rose softened, she had not realized that her mother actually was doing her best to come to terms with the whole situation of her going back to school. After hearing the reason, she gave it a bit more thought and flipped through the brochure again. She endured her mother's glare as she tapped her bottom lip with a newly manicured nail and finally decided on huffing before giving in. "All right, Mum. I haven't got much to do anyway. I'll do my best an' if I don't get through, I'll give it up."

"Deal." Jackie said, glancing at the clock and turning to the door to smile as Pete came in as precisely as he always did, getting home an hour after Rose had left the building. Pete ambled over to give his "new" wife a peck on the lips as Rose tactfully raised her eyes to the ceiling while taking a sip of her tea. "Evenin' love."

"Evening to you, too, Jacks." Pete said, doing his best not to cuddle her too much while Rose was in the room, he knew how much it put her off. He leaned forward and noticed the application for Imperial sitting unobtrusively on the table. His eyebrows threw a knitting party and he looked up at Rose who reluctantly pulled her own eyes down from the ceiling after having a firm chat with them about manners. "What's all this, then?"

"Rose is going to go back to Uni. She's got to take A-levels though, and I'd always wanted her get her papers from Imperial." Jackie said, starting to glow at the prospective bragging rights she would earn should Rose be able to pull it off. The biggest fear beginning to niggle at her was that the public wasn't going to react well to Pete's daughter springing up from the ground fully formed like Athena. Any way you put it, it either made Pete or her look like horrible people and she worried for what the younger children at Uni would think of Rose once they learned of it. Not to mention that the public was still partly blaming Vitex for what had happened with the Cybermen even though half of it had morphed into Torchwood to deal with the problem. Jackie shook her head in wonder, "Rose, first woman to get a degree of all us Prentice girls."

"Jacks, Rose, you both know that Torchwood can manufacture your A-levels so you can get in, right?" Pete asked, mildly contemplating doing so just so he didn't have to lose Rose's expertise at Torchwood for however long it took her to complete her studying. Knowing that she was a blending of Jackie and him, he suspected that she would be brilliant and creative but chafe under the discipline needed to get good grades. "Also, keep in mind that you'd be inviting a media storm."

"You sayin' I can't get in by myself?" Rose asked, her eyes narrowing and crossing her arms while Jackie turned to him with a measuring glance, and he could practically see the gears turning in her brain behind her flashing eyes that she was estimating how long she should keep him on the couch for that one. Pete held up his hands in supplication.

"Rose, you're the best at Torchwood we've got." He flattered desperately, "You know we can't do without you for as long as you'll need to study for your A levels. That anyone needs to study for their A levels."

"I can do it." Rose stuck out her chin stubbornly and Pete knew that it would be only moments before Jackie did the same and then he would be well and truly buggered and he knew it.

"And the media?" It was a last ditch attempt to keep Rose where he needed her, at Torchwood and focused on what she was doing but the two women in his life that he loved more than life itself even though they'd only come into it a few short months ago, turned on him a united front and he was as helpless before it as he was a chipmunk before the wheels of an auto.

"I'll deal with it. I'll do it better than that Paris Hilty girl." Rose said, not even knowing if she was around on this side of the wall. Either she wasn't, or Pete wasn't all that up with the tabloids because a confused look shaded his face.

"Oooh, is she that girl that flashed her knickers all about?" Jackie asked with relish. Back in her old world, she'd followed the celebrity gossip religiously, but when you are a celebrity yourself and trying to make a new life with the man you just (re)married, it was harder to keep up with that sort of thing.

"Mum, that could have been any of 'em." Rose pointed out and Pete felt quite out of his depth and searched for something to say that wouldn't be awkward or extremely male.

"The media are going to be something to think about though, we can't retcon all of England." Pete reasoned, and firmed his lips to glare at the two ladies before him when they turned speculative looks at him. Some times it was eerie how much the two of them looked alike. "No, girls. We're not retconning England."

"Pete, I really want to do this." Rose took a deep breath and then tried to explain all of the complicated feelings behind the decision succinctly and understandably for someone that hadn't been there for the sticky part of her history. "I made...a mistake. Back in my own time, that didn't let me go to college. Now I really wish I had and bein' here gives me a second chance. It's the one good thing I've found 'bout being here instead of home." She caught herself and backtracked a bit. "'Sides you, of course."

"Sure you don't want Torchwood help?" Pete asked, cajoling for her attention to be on her job rather than studying.

"Pete, that'd be cheating." She flashed him a hurt look and he was reduced to grumbling about the fact that he'd be happy to cheat the system for her. "I appreciate the thought, but no, I'd like to do it myself, really."

"All right, Rose, if you're sure." Pete resigned, throwing up his hands that she'd rather slog through it on her own, when Torchwood had earned her a place at any university that she could have chosen through the respect she'd garnered in her department. Deciding that all discussion was over, because Rose was old enough and rich enough in her own funds that she could move out if any sort of parental influence was to be exerted, not as though he were her parent anyway, even if she seemed to be subconsciously aware that he was her father and had a tendency to follow his orders, Pete started to make his own tea.

As soon as her mates at Torchwood found out that she was going to take her A levels, she found mounds of practice books and practice tests, especially after they found out she was not going to take off, but rather do a distance ed course at the nearby college. She didn't think she knew the guy who delivered the mail on the first floor, but he grinned at her before dumping an entire load of practice material on her desk. Of course, he also asked her for a date at the same time, so she became instantly wary of all the other material that had already showed up. Emma proved to be the best help of all, actually taking over her enrollment, as she got in touch with her cousin that ran the college that had the highest acceptance rate and made it so Rose could take her classes Distance. Rose was deeply suspicious that Emma just really liked having answers that Rose could provide and Rose really couldn't blame her too much.

She found it was so much easier to focus on studying as she hadn't gone out much with the Torchwood teams already, considering the awkward that she was known as "Pete's girl" or "That alien bird" and people were mostly afraid to get to know her outside of the squints and Torchwood One. Pretty soon, all of the staff at the mansion knew to leave her alone, and leave a tray outside her door if she forgot dinner or they were likely to be treated to unintentionally harsh words. The only times she emerged were for work or when her brain simply could not process the information any longer and she began to grow paler, her skin fading to almost porcelain from the lack of sunlight over her six months of preparation.

The day of her test she poked her head out owlishly at 9 am and blinked a few times in the sunlight before dragging herself about the room to get ready. Jackie gave her a hug and wished her luck, slipping the sandwich she'd packed Rose into the leather messenger bag as it thumped against her daughter's leg. Pete, still pulling on his dressing gown as he stepped out of his and Jackie's shared bedroom, foggily asked her to do well and wandered in the direction of the coffee pot to start it for her. Mickey popped his head out of the room that he'd slept in last night, having stayed late to do work with Pete and nodded vaguely before saluting.

"Remember, just do your best." Her Mum said, engulfing her in a warm, soft hug before Rose climbed into her car to drive to the first exam.

"Always do, Mum."


	7. In which Rose meets  Harry

Rose took the week off for a marathon of exams and cramming, and by the time she reached Friday, she was collapsed on the sofa, not even making it to her room, snoring like the TARDIS' engines. Mickey, wandering by to get a sandwich, covered her up with a blanket and tucking it around her, before brushing some hair that was in danger of being sucked into her mouth out of harms way. Her lips twitched as if she were trying to form words even in the depths of sleep and he couldn't help but laugh. His cackle woke Rose and she breathed in sharply as she opened her eyes. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and he slid behind her, his white teeth brilliant in the dark that she'd made with thick curtains due to a pounding head ache from lack of sleep.

"How'd it go?" He asked, "Jake was after me all day to ask you."

"God, even your team?" Rose asked. "I think all of Torchwood knew about my exams."

"Just 'bout." Mickey said, grinning conspiratorially. "So?"

"Dunno, guess I did all right." Rose frowned, pushing her hair back from her face as she chewed on her bottom lip in consternation. "Things went a little fuzzy in the middle of the exam and I think I went on autopilot, but I got through it."

"Half the battle." Mickey admitted. He then noticed her head nod up and down a few times and laughed. "Come on, I'll help you get to bed."

"Thanks, Mickey." He kissed the top of her head before picking her up and carrying her to her room. He oofed and grunted but he managed and she yawned and as he dropped her on her bed. "For everything."

"Nothin' to it, babe." He said as he flicked out the light, allowing himself a single, greedy moment of pretending that her heart wasn't a reality away held by a man who already had too many in long, skinny fingers that danced on the controls of a magical space ship. For a second, he pretended that it was years ago, when the biggest worry in their relationship was his nights at the pub watching football eclipsing their date nights. For a brief, fleeting moment in time, he pretended fiercely so that he could let it go. He took a deep breath and closed the door, leaving her alone, untouched even by a good bye kiss. He leaned for a moment on the door with his forehead to gather himself to rip out of that serene moment and whispered, "Nothin' to it."

.

When Rose went to pick up her results, she was hardly the first there and was forced to stand outside as the line snaked out of the building and down the street with excited eighteen year olds bouncing up and down in place. Rose took a single moment to feel achingly old in response to all the energy around her as she shoved her hands deeper into her pockets while she waited. Both Jackie and Pete had asked her independently if she would like them to come with her while she got the results but she stuck her chin out stubbornly and proclaimed that if she didn't get the results she needed, then she didn't want them to see her cry. It took barely an hour with people filing past with envelopes. Ecstatic, dejected or indifferent, they all rolled past with the determinant of their careers clutched in grubby hands while she cooled her heels, waiting her turn.

"They just all look so young, don't they." It was an older voice like hers and came right behind her. Rose gave little start and a hand flew to her mouth to chew on the nail. He was a man of middling height with dark brown hair and an infectious smile that struck her down to her toes when his teeth opened up, blindingly white against even pale skin. "Bless."

"Sorry, do I know you?" Rose asked, hugging her stomach to get the jumping frogs under control. The butterflies had cocooned themselves and discovered a new evolutionary track when surprised.

"Just all these little monsters, running around, and you and I standing here like old curmudgeons at a teeny bopper bar." He said, and Rose had to bite down on her lower lip as the parents around them glared. "I almost expect one to stand up and order an orange soda whilst we nurse our brandies."

"Tha's'not funny." Rose chided, rubbing her upper lip to hid a smile that hooked the edges of her mouth with tiny, prickling hands.

"Oh go on, crack a smile." There was something about his eyes that twinkled brightly. "It's funny, isn't it? Being the older ones in a pack of wet, sniveling hooligans?"

"No." She said, ducking her head to avoid the growing hostility of the crowd around them. The tall man seemed not to care, his hands tucked in his leather jacket.

"Funny? No? Little bit?" He held his fingers a half an inch apart by his scrunched up face with pursed lips and slitted eyes, apparently trying to illustrate the minuscule amount of humor that must be apparent in his joke. His face blanked as he studied her and she looked away, playing with the edge of her shirt, the edge fraying from too many washings not accustomed to the harshness of the detergent. He touched her chin with delicate, fleeting fingers. His fingers were long, and thin, like the Doctors and she found herself, against all judgment, wanting to speak with this man because he felt so much like her Doctor and she couldn't understand why.

"Sorry, but oo are you?" Rose asked, pushing her hair out of her face as the line crept closer to the entrance of the school.

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself." He threw his hands grandly to the side, as if he were playing to a greater audience than one. He gave her a cheeky smile full of dimples and cream, a smile that would have put the cat in an immobilized canary shop to right bloody shame. "Saxon, Harold Saxon. Other top scorer of the physics A levels and I know all about you, Rose," He paused a moment as if he were savoring the taste of her name before biting off the plosive sound of her last name, "Tyler."

"What are you on about?" Rose asked, and then frowned. "And how did you know my name?"

"I looked into it." He shrugged, nonchalantly explaining that he'd hacked into the system that held the A levels results and looked at the marks as soon as they were available. His were perfect, as expected from his months of hard work and distressingly brilliant brain, but it had captured his attention that another had gotten almost perfect marks, and the only question she had gotten wrong was a problem with the test, where the physics wasn't correct. He only knew because he happened to be absolutely brilliant, even if no one would listen to him. "You interested me. Rose Tyler from another dimension."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rose said tightly, looking extremely uncomfortable as she hugged her self tightly to keep from engaging him out in the open. How he could have gotten into her Torchwood files, the only place where it was said that she was from another dimension. He had to be good to get in there. "I'm just here to get my A-levels, then go to Uni."

"Yes, because you didn't go to school here, did you, Rose Tyler." He said smoothly, the rasp of his voice brushing along her spine. "You're like me. Getting a start on a new world."

"What?" Rose asked, finally reaching the doors to the school. She was hoping to get her results and get out of there before the Saxon bloke started kicking up a storm and making a spectacle. "Stop talkin' nonsense."

"Only," Saxon's eyes narrowed as he took her in, pausing in his monologue. The flush on her cheeks and anger in her eyes betrayed that she knew exactly what she was talking about. "Only you remember it. I don't have a clue beyond six months ago and you remember it all. Tell me, Traveler, who was I?"

"Sod off." Rose was torn between to saying bugger all and going home, or clapping her hands over her ears and singing loudly to drown out the crazy man who was far too close to the truth for comfort. "You're bloody bonkers."

"I woke up in the middle of the street without a clue how I got here, but I'm constantly left with the feeling that I am surrounded by apes leading menial little lives of small importance, hurrying about around me. I'm meant for greater things, greater skies and I yearn-Oohhh How I yearn- for what was."

"I haven't got a clue what you're on about." She said, approaching the desk for her results. "Rose Tyler, number 2657346."

"Rose, Rose, Rose." Saxon chastised gently before stepping up next to her to face the lady next to hers, giving her a charming smile full of deadly sunshine and carnivorous buttercups. "Harold Saxon. Number 2657347. That's how I found you actually, I must have registered right after you. What Uni are you going to, I'll come along and see if you remember me. It'll be some great fun. Don't you like fun, Rose?"

Then it struck Rose, that's how he seemed so familiar. He had that same way of holding a conversation with himself that was directed at you but did not require actual output. There were many days when the Doctor would go on and on about something or the other and all that she would understand would be the occasional word that she'd swear was in English but would have to look up later because the rest of it was a rambling mess of insults and theatricality. She shook herself and turned to stare at him with anger snapping in her eyes like fire saying, "If you think I'm going to tell you which Uni I'm going to when you're being something of a right stalker, then-"

"Ooh yes, Marm. I remember these results from when me and the girls were stuffin' 'em." The lady fetching her results came back, cheerfully swinging the envelope between her forefinger and thumb. "No problem getting into Imperial with these."

"Thank you." Rose whispered, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again to accept her results. She purposely didn't look at Saxon's face so she wouldn't have to see the glint of triumph in his eyes. He would be into Imperial before she got home, and probably not legitimately. Plus, a girl not much younger than herself just called her 'Marm'. Rose just really wanted to find a hole and die.

"And to think, here I was, innocent, confused, little ol' me about to go to Cambridge. Imperial it is, I will see you in September." And then he left her, standing there with A level results that she didn't have to open to know and a growing dread of the beginning of the semester, with not only the difficulty of school mates that were much younger than her, but a man that knew rather more than he should. He was going to be difficult and he didn't really qualify for that memo that went around Torchwood. Theoretically, they had the best firewall and security system in the world, but he had spoken about it like it was easy. Rose pulled out her mobile to phone and rang Pete.

"So...we may have a problem."

.

The morning of her first day of Uni, she got up early to take a long shower and eat a large breakfast. She wanted to be ready for her classes. She'd be taking up the night shift at Torchwood and cutting back her hours, but she'd still be working and doing homework and going to Uni. It looked like her social life was going to have to wait until the weekend and from the looks of Jackie, it seemed as though that was about to take a sharp incline as well. She slunk into her first class, a wary eye out for a familiar thatch of dark hair above a constantly patronizingly mocking smile and, when she didn't see it, sped to the front of the row, sliding between two people. Rose introduced herself and began chatting with the girls when he slid into the room. The girls on either side of him tittered as he turned, mid-slide and made a little flourish of his hands. Rose just put her head in her hands. He finished his majestic glide across the floor directly in front of Rose and grinned brightly. "Good morning, Rose. Up and at 'em. Hmm. What an extraordinary morning I've had. I seem to have joined the rugby team." He towered over the girls and intimidated them with the fact that he was standing very close. He turned to the girl on her right and said, "Run along, now. I want her as my lab partner."

His voice was still jovial, but it gained a sharp edge when he leveled his gaze at the other girl, staring deeply into her eyes. The girl stopped giggling and stood up vaguely before wandering into the back of the class. Rose looked at him suspiciously. "What did you just do?"

"Sorry, sorry. I have this effect, people just do as I say sometimes, get obsessed." Saxon prattled on. "Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself?"

"Is it the fact that you're a complete loony?" Rose asked drily as she rolled her eyes. He turned the full force of his cheeky grin on her and she felt like slapping him like her Mum had slapped the Doctor, with the full force of a Prentice woman's arm.

"I don't know. It's crazy!" He wiggled his fingers in jazz hands by his face.

"You're full of it!" Rose said, finally breaking down into laughter. Harold Saxon was completely charming and ridiculous and she might, in a few moments, allow herself to realize that she liked him. But he was right, and he did become her lab partner, the two of them complementing each other nicely, easily taking the first in the class and occasionally correcting the teacher when the time called for it.

When she made it to Torchwood that night, for her late shift, the rest of the office was gone, leaving her alone in the lab. Her desk had been covered in well wishes and momentary farewells from her colleagues and Jacobs had left some things on her desk during the daytime. Really she was there to support any emergency missions and after she finished her daily allotted work schedule, she sat on one of the tables that had the inner workings of Silurian ray gun exploded on the table. She picked up a piece or two and ran them through her fingers, and she began to get a light head ache, as plans, schematics really, began to form behind her eyes. She had no idea what any of it was, other than probably something she'd glanced at while in the TARDIS and now that she had time to slow down, her quite frankly incredible memory was bringing it back to the forefront. She started reading up on electrical and mechanical engineering, very concerned that she understood it all quickly and easily.

.

The University sped them through classes as the teachers couldn't keep up with the two of them and it became a competitive race between the two of them, who could get the best grades. Saxon was frequently the top student in Physics, but Rose would usually swipe the top spot for anything that was more conceptual than mathematical.

"Rose, I'm a bit concerned about your level in school." Pete said one afternoon, sitting beside her on the couch as she relaxed on her weekend. The telly was on loudly as she watched a program on metallurgy. "You seem to be doing...rather well for the level of schooling you had earlier. The Physics department were especially proud of your particle accelerator using the parts meant for a machine to monitor the emissions you were supposed to be studying."

"Saxon and I did that assignment weeks ago." Rose said, not looking up from the program as she curled her legs up to give him more room. "'Sides, he bet me ten quid I couldn't do it."

"Yes, but Rose." Pete fumbled for the right words to say to express his concern. "Rose, your mother is a bit worried about you. She knows that you're smart, but you're outshining some of the greatest Physics professors in the United Kingdom."

"Well, Pete." Rose sat up to look at him, crossing her legs and smiling. "One, I'm finally applying myself, which you think Mum would be thrilled about, and two, I learned a lot of stuff travelin' with the Doctor, and now that I have more book learning to see how the Universe makes sense, stuff he said makes sense."

"Just- Rose, be careful." Pete said, touching her knee with a gentle hand. He was getting better at physical contact with Rose, knowing she was his daughter, though it still was uncomfortable. "Your Mum is about to pop and I really don't want her to have any more stress than she needs right now."

"Yeah, but she'll be fine. Mum's stubborn." Rose soothed, patting Pete's hand. Then her voice turned steely. "And I'll be there. No matter what else is goin' on. I'll be there."

"This, Harold Saxon. You know him well?" Pete asked.

"Yeah, he's my partner. We're both going to graduate next year, fastest run through Uni, ever." It as only going to take them both two years from the track that they were breezing through their classes. "It almost makes me think they could let us take exams and leave now."

"Think he'd do well in Torchwood? He's gettin' noticed." Pete asked, twiddling his thumbs. He'd heard Rose rant about this Harold Saxon every night for the first month, then she'd gotten deathly quiet about him. Apparently a truce had been made between the two of them, as they did their best to get out there as soon as possible. Harry for the things that he wanted to do, that Archangel network that he swore would sort out all the problems with "bloody mobile roaming" that he hated with a passion and possibly Prime Minister and Rose just wanted to get back to her job. "They're thinking of askin' soon as he's out of school. Put him in with all the rest of your squints."

"Think he wants PM." Rose said, turning off the telly. If she was going to talk about Harold Saxon, she was going to give it her full, undivided attention. She thought for a moment, tucking her chin on her knees to think clearly. She tapped her thumb on the back of her other hand as she gathered her thoughts. "He might though, if you offer. 'Specially if you mention that I'm the best there. He can't resist the challenge."

"You really think so?" Pete asked, frowning. "He'd give up on Prime Minister?"

"He's got this...need. To be better than everybody." Rose let the side of her mouth quirk up in a small smile. It was terrifying how much Harold Saxon reminded her of the Doctor at his snarkiest when he was convinced that he was right and refused to listen to reason, turning downright rude. "You might get 'im through that."

"Right." Pete said, apparently mulling over what she had to say carefully. He continued, leaning his head forward to look her in the eye. "Do be careful, Rose. You're too important to burn out."

"Yeah, you need me for Torchwood, I know. I got it." Rose said, annoyed at the repetition.

"No, you're important because you're Rose. You're my daughter, for all I never had one and Jacks needs you." He squeezed are arm before getting up off the sofa. "Torchwood could suck an egg as all I care. Get to sleep some time tonight."

"Yeah, you too, Pete." Rose yawned, struck by his fervor. She was wondering if it had anything to do with the rumors of her starting to leak into the media as her last name and photographed association with Mickey Smith, a known entity for being a close friend of Pete Tyler, and Jackie Tyler, the socialite who had recently gone into seclusion and now was confirmed to be rather impressively pregnant. She did look rather like Jackie did when she was younger so it wouldn't take long for someone to put things together. She just hoped it would be after she sorted out the mess that was Harold Saxon. She pondered for a moment about killing him, it would solve the quandary rather nicely though might be a waste of his quite frankly wonderful brain. But that was neither here nor there because if she randomly killed a man, Torchwood would get rather annoyed at her, and she had to get up at six for classes in the morning and it was already pushing two.


	8. In which Rose meets two important people

"So I'm thinkin' of havin' a party." Jackie said, her belly huge, inciting a betting pool around the office of whether it really was twins or not. She claimed it was only a single boy, but she really was reaching beached whale proportions. "Never did get a baby shower and I might as well get to know this Jackie's friends."

"You sure 'bout this?" Rose asked. It was a rare moment of relaxation on a Saturday evening as she was taking a break from her studies to lay face down on the couch with the warm Autumn sun soothing aching back muscles from hunching over to read tiny print in reports and huge tomes of physics. "I mean, you were rather a bit of a celebrity. I'd think that you might trip up on details since they went different."

"I read my autobiography. 'Course, I lied loads about my early life, but that was the same I'd say now, so I don't need to remember that." Jackie shrugged, looking over a battered appointment book, writing down names that occurred frequently, denoting key people in that Jackie's life. It was a pathetically small list. "God, Rose, I don't think she had any of friends, these all look like associates."

"Invite their families." Rose advised, wiggling to straighten out her back a little more before flopping her head to the side to watch her mother. "Invite all the old families. You can do that now, You're Jackie Tyler, wife of the owner of Vitex. Wealthiest company in the world. Head of Torchwood."

"I can, can't I?" Jackie said, grinning. "Instant celebrity. Long way from a hairdresser on the estates."

"Yeah, a long way from home." The two of them lapsed into silence as Jackie finished addressing invitations and Rose took a moment to be glum. When Pete came home and saw the tell tale sign of stacks of invitations, he had lived the life of the other Jackie long enough to attempt a healthy retreat before he got roped into it. He got a few steps out the door again before Jackie realized he was doing a runner and waddled after him.

"Pete! Pete, I've got the most brilliant idea!"

.

One week later, Rose found herself hiding behind the canapes, desperately trying to remain unnoticed as her Mum tottered around, looking for someone to tally up all the gifts and who they had come from. As the fact that she'd been in seclusion had been put down to she had had a rough pregnancy rather than she was dealing with a universe not her own, the entire world showed up with expensive gifts, hoping to be let into the Tyler estate. The maids and butlers were having a hard time keeping out the riffraff, especially since Jackie looked to be having the time of her life since everyone was new to her.

"Your trainers are showing underneath the tablecloth." The voice could be accurately described as "dulcet" as it was low and sweet, accurately attached to a girl who looked like a confection herself in a pink and white dress with matching gloves and purse. Her golden hair, a natural blond, unlike Rose's peroxide, was done up in an intricate knot that still allowed it to fall over one shoulder gently. Her eyes were intentionally vapid, betraying an intelligence that wasn't especially bright, but not as empty-headed as she looked. She delicately picked up a canape to eat as she continued conversationally, "Scoot them back an inch and you should be fine."

"Oh, hell." Rose sighed, tucking her feet closer to her body and the other girl merely leaned back on the table a bit before continuing to speak to the air, her eyes scanning the crowd rather than resting on the cowering woman behind the table. Rose grumbled anyway, "Keep it down, yeah?"

"Oh dear, she seems to have abducted a rather capable looking darker gentleman and an extremely handsome staff member." The girl ran commentary, keeping Rose informed of all the goings on. Rose snuck a peek under the tablecloth and saw Jackie leading a protesting Mickey and far too amused Jake away by the elbows, commandeering them easily. When Jackie was safely into the next room with hostages, Rose stood back up, doing her best to disentangle herself from the tablecloth without running over the other girl or crawling under the table. The girl chewed her canape daintily, her fingers dancing along her lower lip when she was done. When Rose finished brushing herself off, the other girl stuck out a hand. "Lucy Cole, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Rose Tyler." Rose said, stretching her own out to grasp Lucy's. It was surprisingly strong for a girl who looked like the barest whisper of the wind would knock her over and a smile burst on her face.

"Sorry, I have a very firm grip. All that typing you know, I work in Publishing." Lucy confessed, as though it were a great shame that she wasn't purely ornamental. Lucy blinked, and asked, "Tyler? As in, these Tylers?"

"Yeah, Jackie's my Mum." Rose knew it was an odd way of phrasing it, but then she wouldn't be lying even in the strictest of sense and Lucy's eyebrows flicked upward before coming back down. "I've kinda kept my head down 'cos my Mum didn't want me to deal with all the fuss."

"Ah, I understand." Lucy said, but it really looked like she was trying to calculate how someone kept an entire person under wraps for so long without the press catching wind of it. Rose didn't have long to assuage Lucy's curiosity before her squints found her, the first time they'd seen each other face to face in months as Rose had voluntarily taken the night shift all the time now, instead of working with them in the labs.

"Oh, Rose!" Emma said, throwing her arms about her colleague to hug her fiercely. She had missed Rose's responses to Jacobs in witty banter, both Wright and Gaylenor just ignored him which meant she was the only target for his cruel jokes. "I haven't seen you in ages."

"Please say you're comin' back." Wright pleaded, causing Emma to look at him in surprise. "Jacobs is getting a bit mad and you always could take 'im on."

"Sides, I've heard that you're bloody amazing in school and are going to get out soon." Gaylenor said, evidencing a knowledge of her exploits that probably came from Mickey and therefore was over exaggerated at best and spurious at worst. The particle accelerator was true though.

"Right, sorry, but I need the basics 'fore I can just go storming in with all the high level stuff." Rose explained, knowing that they all thought it was a bit silly that she was going to Uni in the first place, that she had far better learning opportunities in Torchwood. She would have agreed except then she wouldn't have met Saxon and he was pushing her in ways that no one at Torchwood would have been able to. Lucy, not knowing all that was going on in the conversation, listened avidly as she helped herself to another canape. Rose remembered her manners at last. "Sorry, Lucy, these are my coworkers, Graham, Wright, Gaylenor. Team, this is Lucy Cole."

They all murmured their polite hellos and when the Torchwood team seemed to be shifting back and forth nervously with a wary eye on Lucy, she excused herself politely. Rose grabbed her sleeve lightly and said, "Sorry, it's just- work stuff, yeah? Listen, you really helped me out back there. Would you like to get together for- some chips...or tea? Next weekend?"

"Of course." Lucy smiled, and Rose could see careful interest in her eyes. Jackie would be thrilled because Lucy would be the exact sort of person that this world Jackie would have wanted to meet, daughter of Lord Cole of Tarminster as she remembered from the invitation they sent, sweet, unassuming and in a career that would help her meet a political husband. Absolutely no worth of her own through the rest of societies eyes, but still, she was willing to help Rose and that made her worth knowing. "I have net team practice in the morning, but afternoon tea would be lovely."

"Fantastic." Rose said, and something twinged deep inside as her lips curled to form the word. It was a familiar, comforting word, one that she would use to propel herself into actually having a life here. "I'll ring later this week."

"Good to meet you all." Lucy said, before wandering back out into the wolves.

"Right, so where is Jacobs?" Rose asked, putting her hands on her hips to stare at her teammates.

"What makes you say there's something about Jacobs?" Emma asked, shoving her hands in her pockets and looking guilty.

"Because with you lot, whenever you're this nice, it's either Jacobs or aliens. Since Jake and Mickey are still over with my Mum, counting presents, it's Jacobs." They looked at each other, and Gaylenor had to smother a giggle behind her hand as Wright looked shocked at her deductive powers.

"Told you she'd guess. She ain't half dim." Gaylenor said, elbowing Wright.

"All right, out with it. Come on. 'Aven't got all day, you lot." Rose said suspiciously, staring hard at Emma, knowing she'd be most likely to crack.

"He's chattin' up some bird on the third floor and she looks rather desperate to get away." Gaylenor explained.

"An' you didn't think to pull him off?" She asked, the ends of her lips curling at the cowardice of her team.

"You're better at it." Wright said while Emma smiled up at Rose charmingly. "An' it's your party."

"It's my Mum's party!" Rose protested.

"By extension." Emma shrugged. "That said, when you're done, we're stuck a bit about the Silurian blaster's power cell."

"I'll deal with that in the mornin'." Rose said, looking fondly annoyed at her teammates. Her eyes began to burn and she refused to believe that they were about to cry so she gave them a good rub as thoughts of a faulty circuit in the belly of the power cell filled her brain. She gave a careless laugh to distract herself and said, "Months without seeing you and this is how you say hello?"

"Hello Rose, how are you doing?" Wright asked obediently.

"Brilliant, 'till you lot showed up."

"You were under the table." Emma pointed out helpfully. "Can't see how that would be 'brilliant'."

"Shut it. All right, I'll take care of it," Rose said, rolling her eyes dramatically. Clearly Saxon was beginning to rub off on her, much as it pained her to think that. "So shift yourselves. Go'wan, scat!"

They fled, leaving her to deal with Jacobs as he did his best to get at least a quick snog out of one of the young socialites that had flocked to the party. She sent him on his way quickly with a fistful of his shirt that she grabbed to throw him out, and a stern look with a promise to burn all materials that she found on her desk the next night she went in to work. By the time she kicked him out, Mickey and Jake were done cataloging the gifts and, very pissed off, they kidnapped her to sort through it all and put the mess of it away. She didn't see Lucy for the rest of the afternoon, but was comforted in the fact that they would meet up the next weekend, as Lucy was the first female that she met in this Universe outside of work. For all that Jake practically sat on her to make her do the work that they had been roped into, and Jacobs was still an arse, it was a decently good day.

.

Rose was carefully inserting the cathode tube into the array when her phone went off and she jumped, smashing the tube against the side and causing Saxon, who had been lurking behind her, to shout at her a bit. Annoyed, she put down the tongs that she was using and pulled out her mobile, cradling it in her shoulder to block out Saxon's theatrical wailing.

"Sorry, Micky. You're gonna hafta speak up. Can't hear a thing." Rose said, plugging her ear just in time to hear Mickey shout,

"Your Mum's popped!" Mickey yelled, "She's havin' the baby!"

"Wot!" Rose said, her back straightening like a rod. Her blond hair swished over her shoulder, as she shot upward. The entire array crashed to the floor, as she shoved off of it to go for the door, yelling, "Sorry, Saxon. I'll make up the work later, I promise!"

"Rose!" Saxon's anguish chased her out as she sprinted for her car. She broke pretty much every traffic law on her way to the hospital, including talking on her cell phone.

"'Ave you called Pete?" She asked as swerved around a car that was taking to long. In the background, she could hear her mother scream in pain.

"Yeah, but he's gonna be a bit, he was off site with a crash landing in Essex." Mickey sounded panicked and suddenly the phone was out of his hands and Jake's voice came over the mobile.

"Your Mum's 'bout ready to murder." Jake said cheerfully.

"Jake?" Rose asked, incredulous. Seemed that you couldn't find one without the other these days, but she would have thought that the birth of her younger brother or sister would have been one event that Jake wouldn't want to be present for. "What are you there for?"

"Somebody's got to hold Jackie's hand and it ain't gonna be my fingers she's crushin'." Jake said simply. "And somebody's got to be coherent to talk to the Doctors, yeah?"

"Yeah, s'pose that makes sense." Rose said. "But really, Jake. You can't look at blood without getting squeamish, and well, you've got lots of that sort of thing."

"Don't remind me." Jake said, his voice tight as though he were trying not to hurl already. "Really though, just dropped by the mansion with Mickey on the way out to the site with Pete and we find your Mum standing in front of the door with a shocked look and water all down her trousers. 'Course it wasn't water, but-"

"Jake!" Rose cried, really not wanting him to finish that sentence.

"Right," He continued. "So we gets her here and Selina says that she's gonna be sick, yeah and Thompson just grins at me and says he did that for his own and never again so there was me an' Mickey. And I don't like havin' me hand crushed so I'm here fer Doctors an' you, Rose."

"Thanks, Jake." Rose said, putting her forehead on the steering wheel at the red light. As soon as the light turned green, she sped off. "I'll see you in a few, yeah?"

"Yeah." Jake said, the grin evident in his voice as another scream rent the air, followed by a very unmanly shriek. Rose hung up and raced to get to the hospital, dodging pedestrians and the well known spots for cops that she'd staked out in her chases of Weevils and other escaped aliens. She could flash her Torchwood badge then, to get out of trouble, but she didn't think 'My Mum just went into labor' would be accepted as a matter of national urgency. Though, if they knew Jackie Tyler, they might agree that she was preventing homicide. It was a quick nod to a glowering Selina before she tossed Johnson her keys and told them it was all right to use her car to go home if they would like, just make sure it got back to the Torchwood parking lot. Rose entered the room in a flurry of worry and was vaguely startled to see Mickey, Jake and Jackie placidly playing cards.

"It's only really bad when I'm havin' contractions." Jackie explained, as Jake and Mickey eyed their dwindling piles of chips. They were playing poker, and from the looks of it, were losing quite badly and not out of deference to a pregnant lady, but because her mother was quite skilled at bluffing. It was how she could look Pete straight in the eye and say that there was no one else.

"You two blokes, are the weirdest I've ever met." Rose said, shaking her head slowly as she stared. "An' I've met aliens."

"Wotcher." Jake said calmly, giving his great gaping grin to her like a present to heal overstressed nerves.

"Oooh, I feel another one, it's comin'." Jackie said, tossing the cards aside, but managing to squirrel away her chips in the hospital bed, not putting it past Jake and Mickey to try to steal them back. Jackie wiggled her fingers at her daughter and motioned her forward. Rose gripped her mother's hand as her mother tried to break hers. "Rose, come talk me through it."

"God, where is Pete?" Rose muttered as Mickey and Jake had to smother giggles behind a hand.

.

It would take another fifty minutes of hard gambling, interspersed with screaming, wailing shouts of pain that didn't always come from Jackie, before Pete would fly into the delivery room, his wispy red hair tousled about his face, looking distinctly windblown. Rose stood up in relief as he practically ran to Jackie's side.

"Thank god you're here." Rose said, relieved. "We didn't know what to do. You were almost too late."

"Is she all right?" Pete asked, desperation coloring his voice. "Is Tony?"

"She's fine, we're just almost out of money." Rose waved a hand towards the massive pile of chips that Jackie had stashed around the bed with her. "Who's Tony?"

"She's sittin' right here." Jackie said, crossing her arms over her enormous belly. "An' I said no to Tony."

"Don't I get a say, Jacks?" Pete asked, holding her hands to kiss the backs. Rose made a sound as if she were throwing up a little and gathered up Mickey and Jake to herd them outside and give the two of them some alone time.

"'Scuse me, mate, but 'till your sittin' in this chair with your knees wider'n your ankles," Jackie snarked, glaring at Pete with very little malice. He just smiled up at her with his heart in his eyes. Jackie faltered but pushed on anyway, "And nurses poppin' in every minute to see 'ow big your end has gotten, then you get to say."

When they reached outside, Jake grabbed her hand to squeeze and Mickey tucked her head under his chin. They curled together in the cold lobby, and Jake ended up asleep on Mickey's shoulder quickly. Mickey kept his arms around the both of them to keep them upright

"Mickey?" Rose said quietly, trying not to wake Jake.

"Yeah, babe?" Mickey asked, brushing her hair back for her, out of her face where it had caught at the corner of her mouth, much longer than she liked, as she hadn't had time to get a trim, even from her Mum.

"I'm so glad you were there to help Mum." Rose confided. "I know I 'aven't been 'round lately. An' I'm sorry."

"Yeah, but it's all right. I help out when I can and Pete really is amazin'." Mickey replied, still in a hushed tone so that the blond snoring lightly away on his shoulder wouldn't wake up. Sometimes Jake forgot that he wasn't Rickey, and he didn't want Rose to be there on one of the times that Jake woke up muzzy and tried to grope him. Sometimes Mickey thought to let him just to see that desolating sadness that lurked behind Jake's eyes go away for a few minutes. "So no worries."

"You really are my best mate." Rose said honestly, resting her chin on his shoulder and looking up at him through long, dark lashes and significantly less eye makeup than she had in her well spent youth. "I'm sorry."

"S'all right." Mickey said, cupping Jake's head in the crook of his arm when it threatened to roll off of him. He set it gently back on his shoulder and kissed the top of Rose's head again. "But you're losin' to Jake."

"Yeah." Rose's lips twisted into a smile that she tried to contain. "I kinda got that."

"Oh, go on, have a laugh." Mickey said, rolling his eyes.

"I wasn't gonna say anythin'." Rose protested with a giggle lurking behind her words. They looked up as Pete entered the room, looking triumphant.

"Rose, your Mum wants you in there too, she's starting." Pete said breathlessly and was not in the least bit jealous that his wife wanted her daughter to share the moment of his son's birth. She'd known Rose for far longer than she'd known him, if he were to be practical. Hours later, Mickey snuck in to see Jackie peacefully holding a small lump wrapped in a blanket. He left Jake asleep on the benches in the lobby and Rose was curled up asleep in a chair in the room with Pete gallantly passed out in a corner next to the bed with his hand held in Jackie's.

"It's all over then, is it?" Mickey asked in a hushed whisper, staring at the little bundle that all the fuss was about.

"Yeah, come and meet the newest Tyler." Jackie said, smiling up at him. "I'm thinkin' 'bout naming you Godfather so you might as well scare 'im now with your ugly mug."

"What, me?" Mickey blinked as the baby gave a happy gurgle and gripped his finger in a terrifyingly frail hand.

"I'm thinkin' 'bout naming him Mickey." Jackie said, a twinkle in her eyes. "Y'know, for the boy that got me to the hospital."

"What, really?" Mickey asked, barely able to gasp that out in comprehension of what she said.

"Don't be stupid. Of course not." Jackie giggled, sounding like they had given her something. Mickey knew that she should be sleeping but if he knew Jackie Tyler, he knew that no matter how late he and Rose came home, she was always still up. "Two Mickeys. That's a laugh. His name is Anthony"

"S'pose Pete had to win sometime." Mickey shrugged. "You serious 'bout naming me Godfather?"

"Yeah, he could do worse." Jackie sighed before flashing him a Tyler grin. They all had it, Pete, Rose, Jackie and now Tony would have that smile that seemed to flash and light up the world no matter what was going on around it. She yawned and finally let the lurking nurse take her baby and put it in a bed. "You did save my life once, ta."

"Nothin' to it, Jackie." Mickey said, abashed. He stared at the tiny body in the bassinet. "Nothin' to it."

.

"I think it's time for me to get out an' get runnin'." Rose said, playing with baby Tony as her mother tried to rest with her feet up on the end of the couch, as Jackie ineffectively tried to pry her shoes off with her toes. Pete took pity on his wife and unbuckled her shoes for her before addressing what Rose had to say.

"You want a team?" Pete asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I graduate in a month."

"We need you in the lab."

"I'm bored in the lab. Not 'nough running." Rose said, grinning up at him as Tony gurgled. She patted her waist and laughed. "Still 'aven't got off the weight that I put on after I stopped runnin' for my life."

"This really about your weight, Rose?" Pete probed. He shrugged and goaded, "Go on a diet."

"Pete, I can save lives, out in the field. I know what things can do, somehow. I can talk to people, aliens, I know things." Rose said, really offering what was going through her head. She was good in the lab, but now they were getting Saxon and he was just as good, so she could go out and help. Harry hadn't said whether he was going to take their offer or not, but Rose knew him, he would. "I want Emma, Johnson and that new guy the one with the-sort of- brown-ish hair."

"Johnson? Mickey's gonna hate you." Pete said, reaching down to pick up Tony as he began to fuss. Rose sat back on her hands as her Mum began to make moaning noises and flail halfheartedly at her husband to get her child back. "Oh, and the weedy looking one or the one that looks like he bench pressed mini autos in his repressed childhood?"

"Jake's good enough." Rose said, conveniently not mentioning the conversation that she'd had with Johnson the week before about how the older man was beginning to feel a bit superfluous now that Jake was almost as good with weapons as he was and they really needed someone that was good with first aid with the scrapes that the team kept getting into. "And Mickey will find someone to fill the space in the van, I'm sure." She flashed him a smile. "The weedy looking one, of course."

"Really, Graham?" Pete asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"She's wasted in the lab, absolute mess." Rose recalled the other day in which Emma, in a moment of temper and frustration, slammed a connection home that would have worked fine in the field, but in a lab it overloaded some very delicate equipment. "She needs action. Plus, I can trust her to over plan the world."

"True. Well, I'll give it a thought and get back to you."

"Right." Rose said, crossing her legs at her ankles and grinning up at him, knowing his answer already.

"I could say no." Pete said, waggling his eyebrows at her.

"But you won't." Rose responded, knowing that, if nothing else, he'd say yes so he didn't have to do as much as head of Torchwood. People were already whispering if she was going to take it over, and the media was beginning to stir as people were realizing she existed. Her continued afternoon teas every other weekend with Lucy Cole were seeing to that. They were both getting rather fond of each other, Rose pulling Lucy out of her shell and Lucy was infecting Rose with her sweetness. "Not when it means that you can stay home more."

"But I could."

"But you won't." Rose said, rolling her eyes at his insistence. Her mother made a feeble attempt to get up and Rose helped her, knowing that tomorrow morning she was going to have Johnson take Emma out for shooting practice and abscond with the weedy looking man in a pinstriped suit that reminded her heartbreakingly of her Doctor except for the Scottish accent. Perhaps she could just ban him from talking. She considered for a moment, tapping her bottom lip with her pointer finger before smiling brilliantly at Pete. "I want a blue van. A big, boxy blue van."

"I'll see what I can do." Pete said, sighing as he gave Tony to her Mum. Rose just lay back on the carpet, humming happily.

So tomorrow she would have Johnson, Emma and the weedy brown haired new guy who was known to be rather handy with a steering wheel in his hands against evil aliens bent on taking over a world where there will be a blue boxy van but still lots of running.

Almost normal, then.


	9. In which Rose  finds a brave lil toaster

It was on one of her and Lucy's delightful afternoon teas, after she had her team and Saxon had been effectively cordoned off in the lab as he was constantly dissolving into a frenzy of ecstatic glee at all the alien tech around him that Rose got the call from Saxon on her cell.

"'Scuse me." Rose apologized, pushing herself away from the table as Lucy nodded graciously. "Saxon?"

"Rose? We've got quite the pickle." Saxon practically giggled into the phone. Rose frowned. Saxon was usually jovial, but there was a sort of drug induced euphoria to his voice.

"Harry? Are you feelin' all right?" Rose asked, concerned. Suddenly, there was a deeper voice on the phone.

"Rose?" It had to be Johnson, he sounded level and collected and Johnson was the only person who could remain that calm in times of crises.

"Johnson?" Rose asked, a smile blossoming across her face as her resident father figure that actually knew what he was about came on the line.

"Yeah. Saxon touched something and now is acting like he's hopped." Johnson's voice sounded strange, as if it were just a bit farther away from his mouth than it should be. "And currently, he appears to be licking the walls of the lab. That can't be sanitary."

"Oh god. Pull him off." She threw an apologetic glance at Lucy who merely smiled back over her tea sweetly before Rose continued on, miserably. "I'll be right there."

She closed the phone after extracting a promise from Johnson that he would do his best to keep Saxon from touching anything else or at least from licking it, before she sat back down at the little white table with curlicue rose feet that somehow, Lucy managed to match, with her white rose dress and lacy gloves. Rose felt big and dirty in her stretchy black pants and dark purple leather jacket because Lucy was small and delicate and gorgeous. Back on her Earth, Rose would not have liked to hang about with a girl like Lucy, because when Lucy was around, with her ruby red lips and perfect roses blooming on her cheeks, no man would take a second look at Rose. But now, she knew that no matter what, there was a man out there who would always choose her, except when the girl's name was Madame Pompadour.

"Rose, I understand that you are upset, but it is all right, truly." Lucy said, placing her soft hands on Rose's to still them as she subconsciously shredded her napkin with a ferocious frown on her face as she remembered another blonde who had the poise of a goddess and snuck under her firm hands to steal the other heart of a man in a pinstriped suit. Rose gently placed the shreds down and smoothed them with fingers that shook before smiling ruefully back up at her friend.

"Sorry, yes, you know. Work." Rose chewed on her lower lip furiously as she started stuffing things back in her purse. She jammed the last few things in the top before flicking it closed. She clasped Lucy's hand and squeezed it gently before fleeing, leaving Lucy looking rather bemused over her cup of tea.

When Rose got into the office, there were people running back and forth in a tizzy, hands fluttering in a flurry of excitement. Rose took one look at the confusion and headed towards the lab at a dead sprint, never being so glad that she learned about having extremely comfortable shoes. She skidded into the lab with a screeching noise as her sneakers slipped sideways across the smooth floor. Her blond hair streamed behind her as she slammed into Johnson's broad bulk. Rose rebounded off of him and almost ended up on her rear as he stayed perfectly still like a brick wall.

"Fill me in a bit, yeah?" Rose breathed, pulling air into her lungs where running had stolen it away.

"Remember that crash on the day of your mom's baby?" Johnson asked, grabbing her arm to steady her. He pulled her upright, flat on her feet. He took off at a brisk walk and Rose followed with her hands tucked into her coat pockets.

"Yeah, I remember." Rose said, recalling that that was the reason why her mother had to squeeze her hands instead of Pete's for so long, as he had been stuck out at the crash site. Pete had said that he didn't have anything but a bunch of junk and rubble so Rose hadn't taken the time to figure out what it all was. She had left explicit instructions that no one touch the items until she was able to catalog it all, referencing her journal. She had left a specific edict that Saxon wasn't allowed within 10 feet of the stuff until she took a look at it, but as usual, he found a way to worm his way past all security to get his hands on some of it. She could wring the man's neck, were it not for the fact that he halved her workload merely by his presence. As soon as she entered the lab, the man in question looked up at her from under Jake's arm pinning him to the ground and gave her a gooey smile.

"Oh, Rosie m'darlin'." Saxon gurgled, struggling against Jake's iron grip. He subsided the minute that he realized he wasn't going anywhere. Jake rolled his eyes and tightened his arms on Harry.

"Harry." Rose asked, her voice full of exasperation as she crouched down next to her friends on the floor. She held up her hands where they were resting on her elbows and cradled her head in them. "Harry I need you to think very carefully. Harry. Look at me, Harry. What were you touching when you started feeling strange?"

"A pretty, pretty golden ball." Saxon murmured softly, waving his hand limply towards the pile of rubble from the the crash of the ship on Tony's birthday. "It unrolled like a pork-yee-pine."

"Harry. Harry, what did the ball do then?" Rose asked, rubbing her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Harry, focus. I need to know what to expect."

"It got a little thingie. And then the thingie went poke!" Saxon mimicked a spine jamming into his hand.

"Okay. Okay okay okay." Rose tangled her fingers in her hair and then ruffled the strands with the pads of her fingers digging into her scalp. Her hair, well ruffled, lay messily over her forehead as she padded softly over to the pile of things. Rose began to toss things aside, searching for the gold, uncurling ball as she examined each piece. She eventually gathered up a blue crystal blob and tried to roll it closed. It snapped back together, turning gold. "Oh. It's a pet."

"What?" Jake asked, blinking at her in confusion.

"It's a pet of these really peaceful people called the Cryons. They're from the planet Telos." She grinned up at Jacobs. "Never vacation there, it's ruddy cold. Actually, to think of it, anyone know the nearest refrigerator?"

"I've got one for those little sandwiches that you and Jacks love in my office." Rose turned to Pete with raised eyebrows as he strode in.

"Is that where you keep them?" Rose asked in surprise. "I thought you just sort of, got them from a deli."

"I found it was best to be well stocked." Pete said, offering her a hand up. Rose took it, struggling to her feet as she held the gold ball in her hands carefully. She tumbled the ball in her shirt to keep from touching it as her body heat would have been very uncomfortable for the little crystallized ball. She held the ends of her shirt like a pouch blowing cold air gently on the creature. Pete smiled a little bit. "Right around Tony, I started stocking them full time."

"Saxon should be fine." Rose nodded to where Jake was still pressing down on the scientist. "He'll just need some time to recover, tie him up until he starts making sense again."

"Rosie posie." Saxon giggled, flailing a little bit under Jake's strong arm. Everyone in the room looked at him as he began to gnaw on his own hand. "Hard to be a fairy tale when you're on the other end."

"Like I said, when he start's makin' sense." Rose said, a little unnerved. She felt a twinge in her head like her sinuses before a storm and then it began to ache fiercely. She juggled the golden ball in her shirt around to rub at her forehead, massaging the area in pain.

"You all right?" Johnson asked, coming up next to her with a concerned look on his face. Rose paused to give him a trembly smile.

"Yeah, I'm just jolly. Bit of a headache, really." She felt as though her bones were turning to liquid, and she felt her knees wobble a bit before Johnson grabbed her arm in a vise like iron, keeping her upright. "Clear a path, Johnson. Will ya?"

"Right, move along." Johnson shoved gawkers right and left as Jake began to flip a cord around Saxon's wrists. Johnson, a flashed a grin to his compatriot before putting an arm around Rose's shoulders to guide her. "Important alien artifact, coming through."

"Really, it's just an adorable pet. It's quite gentle normally. Saxon probably frightened it." She reached into the cup of her shirt to stroke the skin softly. It quivered a little, giving a cute little sigh. "Touching it with his hot little hands. Yes, you didn't like that did you?"

"I certainly hope that you are talking to that and not me." Johnson said with a small smile curling his lips.

"Johnson, the day that someone talks to you like that, I will be there to tape it."

"It would probably be you." Johnson said, ruffling her hair. Rose smiled at him up through her bangs that had, by now, been dramatically disarranged.

"Too true." She murmured, imagining that moment with a grin lighting up her face. "Too true."

After she had safely stashed the little ball in the half refrigerator in Pete's office where it began to purr, it turned into a little puddle of goo. It rolled up the side of the refrigerator to the freezebox and began to just lay there, quivering. Rose closed the door and slid one of Pete's bookcases in front of it before dusting off her hands and turning to the men behind her. "We should probably keep it in there until we can better understand what it wants and why it's here. In the mean time, I'll get back to looking at the junk from the crash. Somethin' else might be in there too, if that one survived."

"Please do. I don't know how we missed that one." Pete said, shaking his head.

"I do." Rose said, smiling. "It turns into an inorganic life form at temperatures above zero degrees. You couldn't have known that."

"How did you know that?" Johnson asked, crossing his arms and leaning casually against the wall.

"Traveled with a man through the stars. Met them once." Rose's fists clenched as she tried to force the words out from behind her wall of pain. She frowned as the pain went from emotional to physical when her head began to hurt even more. "I think. Don't remember much about it. Thing is, I'll get back to looking at the stuff now, but we need somebody to stay in here to keep an eye on that thing. It's not gonna try to escape, but it might get bored. Just knock around a bit on the cooler so it can sort of, chase the sound."

"Right. I'll set Mickey on it." Pete said, as he exchanged a grin with his adopted daughter. They did love to torment that boy. It was fun giving him all the jobs that no one else wanted, like entertaining a bored space puppy. When Rose got back to the lab, she had to pull people out from where they were currently rustling around the pile in a circle, anxious to see what was to happen next. Rose managed to shoo them all away and then sat down on the floor, eying the stack suspiciously. One area vibrated a little and she nudged what was covering it out of the way with her foot, revealing what looked as to be a toaster.

"Hmmm." Rose hummed and then snagged the half eaten sandwich off of Saxon's desk. Last she heard he was in the bathroom throwing up whatever was in his system so it wasn't like he would miss it. She had found out a long time ago, that if something looked like a toaster, and her brain said it was a toaster, to go ahead and try to toast something. The worst that could happen would be that she started an intergalactic war from putting toast in someone's sacred relic and they had a negotiation team for that.

"Spaoslkfjao!" The thing shouted in a loud, digitized voice.

"Sorry?" Rose asked, flipping it to the side to see where she turned the setting on her toaster. "Didn't quite catch that."

"Egads. English." The toaster said and Rose smiled. She had also learned that nine times out of ten, things that were trying to invade earth or at least come visit had some way of communicating with the natives. "How vile."

"Well it's the only one I've got so, go on?" Rose demanded, giving the toaster a little shake. "Who are you and where'd'you come from?"

"The Cryons will destroy your world for the Cybermen!" The toaster yelled, quivering in rage.

"Oh, is that their plan? Is that what they're tryin' to do?" Rose asked, setting the toaster down on a lab table to cross her arms and glare at it. "You better tell me, or there's gonna be trouble."

"I'm not sayin' a word." The toaster pouted, as it began to copy her style of speech. Rose stared at the dial for a moment and then narrowed her eyes.

"Is that a sonic setting?" Rose asked, her voice incredulous.

"Latest model." The toaster said smugly.

"Who looks at a toaster and says, 'That could be a little more sonic'?" Rose asked, her words echoing the same question about a screwdriver. "I mean, really. Why would you need to sonic your toast?"

"It's for the Summer months when baking it is too hot." The toaster defended. "It's advanced."

"Right. Probably burns my toast to a cinder, is what it does." Rose said dubiously, as the toast popped up, smoking and charred.

"It is burned because I don't like you." The toaster sniped. She had the feeling that it would be searing her with a glare if it had eyes.

"You're going to like me a whole lot less if you don't start talkin'" She held up a screwdriver and a hammer and began to idly twirl them in her fingers. She felt a little awkward, threatening a bright, shiny toaster, but really, there was only so much a girl could take, especially once it started swearing at her.

"So we've got a toaster that says the Cryons are invading and you that say that they wouldn't." Pete said, sifting his hands through his thinning hair. "Rose what am I supposed to do?"

"I could try threatenin' it some more." Rose said, tucking her chin onto her knee, letting her other leg swing freely over the side of the chair. "It was hard to get into, I mean, thing is, it's a toaster."

"Rose, do I take this seriously, or as the mad rantings of a toaster?" Pete paused and put a hand to his forehead. "Good god, not something I thought I'd ever say, even here."

"Honest, Pete?" Rose said, "I haven't a clue. Do want me to take it with me to try and figure it out?"

"Do you think you could learn anything from it?" Pete asked, wandering over to his mini fridge to give it a kick. There was a scrabbling sound and the mini-fridge gave a small shudder.

"I'm not sure." Rose rubbed at her bottom lip with her knuckle before gnawing on it lightly. "I could learn a lot, or I could destroy it and we lose the only source of information we have about a possible invasion."

"Rose, you're not making this any easier." Pete said, doing a nice little double tap with his foot on the side of the refrigerator.

"I'm givin' you the facts, Pete." Rose said, leaning back to link her hands behind her head. "It's yours from there."

"Rose, take the toaster home." Pete said. "See if we can get more out of it with honey than with a screwdriver."

"Sir?" A tentative voice came form the doorway. His arms were full of a large box that was leaking steam from a dry ice inside. He then dipped his head to Rose. "Ma'am?"

"Oh my god." Rose groaned, tugging at a lock of hair. "They've started with the Ma'am."

"You're becoming all respectable, now." Pete said, motioning towards the refrigerator. He opened it slowly and the quivering ball of flubber slowly unwound itself from the freezer, questing tentacles finding the open box and hopping into the box, pulling the lid closed behind it. "Take it down to the biology department so they can take a look at it."

"Yes, Sir." The intern left as he carted huge box out of the office as fast as he could.

"Is that what our Interns look like now?" Rose asked, popping her legs over the side of the chair again. "All soft and wibbly? I think I could wash my clothes on his spine."

"You and Saxon have enough spine for the rest of us. Speaking of, how is he?" Pete asked. Keeping one eye on Rose.

"Last I heard, he was fine, well, for Saxon." Rose considered. "Which means right barmy and bouncing off the walls again."

"Why did we hire him again?" Pete asked, giving her a dry look.

"Because he's brilliant." Rose said, grinning up at her step father. "And he's good at what he does, even if he is right idiot."

Rose tipped her head back to laugh as Pete just shook his head in dismay. He patted her on the head as he passed towards the door. "Like small children squabbling, I swear. I'll see you at home, Rose. Try to make it back before midnight, yeah? Your mother worries."

"I'll try, Pete. I promise."


	10. In  which Rose gets a Jack

It was quite an ordinary morning, well, ordinarily enough for a captain of a Torchwood team. The toaster threatened to self destruct emphatically, stating it's demands in its strange digitized voice. Her toast burnt to a cinder as she forgot the sonic setting was to the far left instead of the toast beyond all recognition setting that she usually spun to. All before she tried to grab her coat and ended up cracking the vial of hydrochloric acid based spit she'd forgotten was in her coat pocket that they'd taken from the Teloreeene assassin they had caught last week, to have it burn tiny droplet sized holes in the purple leather. Rose stood for a moment, trying to fight tears as that had been her favorite coat, given to her by Pete and Mum for Christmas. Perhaps she should just move back into the mansion, it had been nice to have maids to make her breakfast and clean her room, though she desperately reminded herself the independence was well worth it.

Her last day at home was when she found her mother sneaking around in her room trying out all the little bits and bobs of the gadgets she brought home to tinker with. Her mother was about to burn herself by connecting the charges to the wrong polarities, and Rose vowed never to return until her mother could wise up and stop touching things. According to Pete's harried morning monologues, this had yet to happen. All of this weighed heavily on her mind as she left her apartment complex, so she could be forgiven for her momentary moment of distraction from immediate recognition when a decorated world war two army jacket, ridiculously out of place even in the middle of the fashion district of London, brushed by her.

Rose froze, standing quite still on the busy street as the people surged around her, shooting dirty looks as they were forced to detour around the woman who had turned to stone on the sidewalk. She was staring at the jacket that was topped with spiky brown hair and an American accent that was revealed as it apologized for having clipped her elbow with his coat. Rose whispered in disbelief, "Jack?"

He continued on, not hearing her in the murmuring thunder that was the busy streets of London, and she broke the hold her shock had on her to dash after him, thrusting people out of her way when they didn't move fast enough. The yells at her impertinence attracted the man's attention and he turned, scoping out the situation with the trained eye of a professional. The oh so familiar eyes perpetually stuck in a bedroom smirk cased the sidewalk, identifying the source of the disturbance easily. Rose began to tear up as he turned back around, about to continue on his way, because the people wouldn't move and she was stuck in a crowd and the astronomical odds of him being at the right place and the right time as she was walking out of her apartment had to be a gift from the gods and she was damned if she was going to let it get away. She shouted louder, putting all of her desperation and frustration into it, making it a conduit for which her longing for a friendly face, familiar arms and a lovely cocky smirk that had charmed her in the middle of a bombing raid during the second world war on an invisible space ship, could stream through. "Jack!"

She shoved people desperately now, right and left, as they didn't move fast enough for her to catch him before he vanished in that particular way of his that made you feel as though you had just missed a brilliantly funny dirty joke. "Jack, wait!"

He stood still, his eyes scanning the crowd with arms crossed as she broke out of the crush, breathless and heaving, staring at him in disbelief of her own senses as he appeared in front of her, every bit the handsome protogod that she remembered. She reached out a trembling hand to touch him, as if she couldn't quite trust her eyes and ears and nose as she inhaled his particular scent of honey, cinnamon, cloves and a really good shag.

"I think that's far enough, lady." He said, gripping her wrist before it could touch him. Under his sleeve, she could see the vortex manipulator peeking out as if to mock her. It seemed he was the same, the same old Jack, defending the time stream one case at a time but this was a Jack that didn't know her, didn't care, didn't love her and the Doctor with a fierce devotion that got him killed.

"Oh god, I didn't think-" Rose swallowed her tears of joy at the fact that he was alive and here in front of her and then suddenly her eyes went dry because she only had a few seconds to prove that she wasn't touching him as some sort of strange bag lady. He oozed sexual attraction like the secretion of pheromones of a Cassius that had drove her entire complex mad last week when they all tried to bang each other silly. "I didn't think I'd find you here. In this Universe. In this time."

"Look, I'm running a bit behind as it is, and I really don't know you." He let go of her wrist gently, giving her a pat on the back of her hand as he released it, just as Jack had always done before telling her something terrible. She knew to batten down the hatches, such as the time when he'd told her that she just didn't look good in pink and that he had burned all of her clothes that had that color. "Why don't you go home, take a nap. Your eyes are probably just tired and then you can go find this other guy that you're looking for."

"You're a time agent." Rose blurted, ignoring the secrecy rules of Torchwood for the first time in her life as she spoke in the middle of a crowded London street, talking about things that could be easily used to put her in a sanitarium for the rest of her life. "You work for the Time Agency to repair rifts in time and space."

"How do you know that? How could you know that?" Jack asked, blinking in disbelief. He glanced around, and then grabbed her arm to drag her into a deserted alley, off the main street. If it were any other man, she would be terrified of what they were going to do next but, seeing as it was Jack, even if he were to try anything she would probably enjoy it because he was that good. He threw her against the wall and leaned in, intimidating her with his bulk. But this was Jack, her Jack, and she didn't believe him for a moment. Even so, she'd learned a lot about not trusting familiar people in this strange place, and she leaned farther back to feel the reassuring pressure of her gun in it's holster underneath her arm. Just in case. He snapped, "Talk, and make it good. You have thirty seconds to explain why you are in 21st century Earth, but you know about the Time Agency."

"Because I've met you before." Rose said defiantly, staring him straight in the eyes as his own widened in disbelief and denial. She shook her head. "Not here, though. I come from a parallel Universe where you and I traveled with a man called the Doctor to save everyone, time and space."

"A likely story." Jack said, shaking his head.

"You come from an island called the Boeshane Penninsula." Rose rambled, feverishly trying to recall all that he had told her stories of when they were traveling in the TARDIS. "You lost your younger brother, Grey, in an alien invasion. You let go of his hand."

"My younger brother almost died in an alien invasion." Jack thundered, drawing himself up as he debated her facts. Rose shrunk against the wall, staring as he terrified her. She crossed her arms over her chest, slipping a hand under her short jacket to grasp the hilt of her pistol, getting ready to pull it out and shoot Jack. If he tried to attack her then he wasn't anything like her Jack and she would have no qualms about shooting him. She didn't think he was immortal in this world, but even if he was, bullets would slow him down so she could to save herself. The world needed her. He continued on, disgruntled. "I saved him. I held his hand"

"Well, in my world, you didn't." Rose said simply, tightening her grip on the handle of her gun as he seemed to tense. When he finally relaxed, she relaxed her fingers on her pistol. "A lot of the details are different between the two Universes, but think, how could I have known even that if I didn't know you?"

"You could have researched the archives." Jack said, clearly still suspicious of her, even if the battlements of his argument were crumbling under the force of her superior logic. "They are free to the public."

"You once told me that I reek of the 21st century, all of steel and oil and fossil fuels." Rose challenged, raising her head to glare at him defiantly. "Is that any different now?"

"No," He admitted, leaning forward to take a whiff of her just to be sure. Abruptly, she was glad that she'd taken a moment to squirt on just a bit of her favorite perfume. A gift from him actually, kept in a vial in a pocket always, because you never knew when you were going somewhere you wanted to dab it under your nose to block out a smell. He sniffed deeper and confirmed, "No, you are from here."

"Then please, Jack. Take five minutes. Just five minutes and believe me." Rose pleaded, staring up at him in a way that his alternate self had once confessed made him a little soft on the inside towards his favorite 21st century Earthling. She had no idea if it were that, or the vehement urgency of her voice as she whispered, "Just believe me for five bloody minutes."

"All right." He conceded, pulling in his intimidating presence to let her sag against the wall. "Five minutes. Make them good."

"Oh, thank you!" Rose, so used to his face and missing his arms as they tightened around her, did the natural and utterly unthinkable, throwing her arms around Jack to pull him into a tight hug. Jack froze, finding himself comfortably restrained by his own feelings of strange happiness and a distinct feeling of deja vu. "Oh, you are not going to regret this, I swear."

"I already am." Jack sighed, pressing a button on his vortex manipulator, briefly stalling whatever was beeping for them to have a conversation. "Talk and do it fast."

Words poured out of Rose and she desperately tried to tether Jack to the here and the now that she was forced to occupy with words and well known stories. She wrapped them around Jack, telling him of a better time in which she and he would have easily shared the same space for weeks on end. She chained him down with platitudes that he uttered, calming words he had said and hugs that he had given her on dark nights when the shadows terrified her down to her bones.

She told him of galaxies, of supernovas and the Medusa cascade. She babbled about their travels to the suns, to the moons, and black holes and white holes. Of hot fusion and cold fusion and radioactive suns. Of aliens with tentacles, ridges, spines, feelers, spikes, shells, wings, flippers, no forms, many forms and colors. She told him of alien civilizations, towns, planets, empires, and the millennium of human's rule in the cosmos.

She told him of a man who wore trainers with his suits in a rather pathetic attempt to relive his glory days when he wore a decorative vegetable many hundred's of years ago. A man who saw people running away and ran the opposite direction to satisfy his curiosity and boredom after living for far too long. A man who had built a sonic screwdriver so he could put up a lot of cabinets in the dressing room of the Tardis one night and then decided that it was brilliant and so built on it ever since.

"All right. I understand that you believe all this happened with another me." Jack asked, sidling closer until his gray army jacket brushed the front of her crossed arms where they held in on herself. "I have one last question. When is my birthday?"

Her face went blank as she tried to recall. The had celebrated it once, with cake and singing and dancing around the TARDIS to strange alien songs before finding a world with a decent pint and ending up having to run for their lives as some alien dictator got angry at them stopping him from taking over that world. They had celebrated it, but she had no idea when it was, as days all seemed to meld together when you were on the TARDIS with no sun, no rotation of any heavenly body to anchor you to a specific point in time. A day ended when you went to sleep and started when you woke up so you could theoretically have as long of days as possible for you to stay awake. On the flip side, you could restart the day with a nap in the afternoon. She wasn't even certain that time did pass in the TARDIS and if you didn't leave, if you would never age.

"I don't know." Rose answered honestly, truly worried that the one question that she never thought to remember would cause him to slip away. She felt close. He'd said five minutes, but she'd now been speaking for twenty. "I don't think I ever thought to ask."

"All right." Jack said, his sexy smile slinking across his face like a lover out the back door after a secret tryst. "I believe you."

"Wot." Rose asked, staring at him in disbelief. Rejection, she was prepared for, hoped for even maybe just a little bit because that would mean that she had closure and could go cry in peace. Affirmation was unexpected.

"If you are brave enough to take a chance and say you don't know, then I should be brave enough to stick around and see what the 21st century is all about." Jack said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "And, you're cute and I might get lucky. What's your name, anyway?"

"My name is Rose. Rose Tyler." She said, grinning as her good old Jack resurfaced, flirting with anything that moved and willing to have sex with anything that stopped for a chat and some he chatted on the run. He appeared to have some decently high standards, but what they were, no one was really sure, not even him. He drifted vaguely toward her as her lips curled upward.

"Well, Rose, Rose Tyler. Got a boy waiting for you that you're eager to get home to?" Jack asked, stepping into her personal space with wild abandon. "Or would you like to help me on this case I'm working?"

"What?" Rose asked, aghast. She was a bit taken off guard, as she wasn't used to the constant flirtation and innuendo of the handsome Captain. No one even flirted with her anymore beyond Saxon's ingrained need to invade her personal space, they were all too scared of her. She didn't count Jacobs.

"So you don't have a boyfriend." Jack asked, raising an eyebrow to sweep his eyes from head to toe, sliding over every curve slowly and dipping into her shadowy valleys with a single minded determination of a 30th century man who thinks he'd like to get lucky even in this dingy alleyway.

"I didn't say that." Rose said, narrowing her eyes at him, for the first time, feeling quite violated as his eyes seemed to peel back her clothing and lay her bare before him with very discerning eyes.

"The words I'm thinking are available." He smiled at her, his lips curling sinfully. "And very."

"Oh god, Jack, you've just met me!" Rose said, giving a little hysterical laugh as he wiggled his brows at her. "Do you ever change?"

"I was just saying hello." He said, winking at her. He raised his hand to wave at her. "Hello!"

"Oh, now you've said it twice. Very thorough. Hello to you too!" Rose giggled, delighted at the turnabout fair play. Of course Jack just let his smile slip into confused as she remembered that brain scrambling fall through a tractor beam. She knew that it was going to be difficult separating her Jack from this one, the one that didn't know her, and didn't rescue her from a barrage balloon. She didn't have much of anything to weigh him down, to keep him there but she was so desperate to as he was a familiar, such a dear, familiar face that she had cared for and she so wanted to have him by her side. Not even thinking of the tactical advantage of having a Time Agent at Torchwood. Rose crossed her arms and leaned away from Jack, a smile curling like a cat that just spotted the canary and was plotting the best avenue of attack. "Tell you what. I'll make you a deal."

"A deal?" Jack asked, his voice dropping low and husky. "How promising."

"Thing is, we need someone that knows what's what." Rose said, brushing her hair away from her face with careless fingers. She opened her eyes wide to beguile the man in front of her, making him think she were harmless. Her head began to burn and she took off a moment to rub at her brow line with the pad of her thumb. "'Sides what little I can do. Tell you what. I impress you out on this little jaunt of yours and you stick around 'till you get bored."

"Little Jaunt?" Jack repeated back to her, his well groomed brows inching upward. "This time agency business is serious."

"Trust me on this, Jack." Rose confronted, crossing her arms. "If it were so serious, you wouldn't have taken the time to speak with me. You know that the 21st century is when everything changes. Don't you want to be there to see it?"

"Quite the tempting offer." Jack said, taking a moment to run to backs of his fingers up her arms. "I always liked history. Best subject in school. Always got straight A's."

"Slept with the teacher?" Rose teased, not expecting the answer to be yes.

"She had three sets." He waved towards his front, retaining a modicum of decency by not naming female parts on a crowded street. He flashed that boyish grin that she had known and loved to pieces. "How could I resist?"

"You're right naughty, you are." Rose gave Jack a punch on the shoulder and he took it with aplomb, looking rather flattered as he shifted his weight so that he dodged easily, training evident in every movement. She'd forgotten what that was like, the Doctor and she had relaxed him to the point where not every movement was a trained exercise. It scared her a little to miss the giggling, sparkling Jack that she knew was under the wary soldier that the Time Agency feared into him. There were flashes of him even when he didn't know her, didn't trust her, but hopefully she could count on his attraction to 20th century blondes who knew just a little too much for this epoch to keep him around long enough for her to wave how much fun he could have here in his face and convince him to stick around. "Well, you going to take it or not?"

"What the hell, you only live once, right?" Jack asked, taking her hand in his and kissing the knuckles before smiling captivatingly up at her. Rose felt her heart jump in her chest because that is what hearts did around Jack and she ignored it. "Show me what you can do."

Jack would never tell Rose this, but really, she had him at hello.


	11. In which a cave holds many surprises

"Oh please, please, please darling Rose," Harry had grabbed onto Roses' arm, asking in desperation if he could join them out on the field. He had never been interested in the world outside his laboratory until she brought Jack home with her like a giant puppy dog that could chat up a brick wall. If pressed, Rose would admit that she loved her boys more than anything else in the world, however if they did not learn how to get along, she was going to smack the both of them. She didn't know what it was about Jack and Harry but they were heartily determined to not like each other or at the very least, glare at each other most ferociously. Harry decided that he wished to compound this with his presence on a run. "Just this once, let me go out in the field and see the action that they keep bringing back to me."

"Oh bollocks. Fine. You can come, just behave." Harry made a motion that he was putting a collar on himself and handing her the leash but she only snorted and gave the same directive to Jack.

She knew she should have said no, Emma told her she should say no, quite vehemently, which was why Emma only watched her with accusatory eyes as Harry and Jack glared at each other with manly old woman disapproval. Only Johnson was unaffected, snuggling his AK and nodding off as they drove to the spot where some Cybermen were rumored to escaped to and set up a factory. The tall, skinny, weedy looking bloke that drove the van that Rose always called 'You' and never learned his name properly because it hurt that she couldn't call him "Doctor", kept shooting nervous glances to the back of the van as to ascertain the threat level growing behind him.

Rose knew why Harry didn't like Jack, Harry didn't like Jack because Jack knew more than he did, the mystery, was why Jack didn't like Harry. Though, to be truthful, it would probably be more of question if Jack did like Harry, considering. When they reached the site that people had been disappearing at, everyone exited the vehicle in an orderly, if rather scurrying fashion, excepting the two slinging testosterone at each other. Rose sighed rolled her eyes before kicking Harry out in front of her and saying, "You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them."

"Right, as the only one of us not cleared to use an explosive or incendiary device of any type, I volunteer to take the rear." Harry said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and grinning charmingly up at them all. Jack twiddled his thumbs and rolled his eyes upward in innocence. Emma and Johnson exchanged a weary look somewhere along the lines of 'Oh god our commander may possibly be a twit.' Rose merely smiled and tipped her head to the side, sliding near Harry to finger his sleeve.

"Right then. When the monsters sneak up behind us and eat you, be sure to scream." She leaned away from Saxon before patting him on the cheek and whirling to stride in the front. Saxon flopped his mouth open a few times before tagging on to Johnson, flashing him a look of absolute terror before glomming on to his arm and wiggling to the middle, leaving Emma and Johnson in the end as Jack lengthened his stride to catch up with Rose. Rose batted at Jack's hands as he lifted her purple jacket to check on her guns where they were strapped under her shoulders, tucked up against her ribs. She was comfortable with them now that she barely noticed when Jack fiddled with them. She should have been more cognizant about where his hands were going, however as long as they didn't go too far, she didn't mind so much.

Rose let Jack enter the room first, as he, for the most part, shoved her out of the way behind a wall and strode into danger with one hand on his vortex Manipulator which could port him out of the area in an instant. Rose looked behind her and stifled a scream as she came face to face with a man frozen in time and water, hands stretched out like he were reaching for the way out, grasping at the air like it could rescue him. She threw her hand to her mouth in surprise, biting down on her sweater sleeve.

"Rose! What's- well, what have we got here?" Jack asked, leaning around her to see while flipping open his manipulator to do a quick scan. "Interesting. Very, intereresting."

"It's Cryon isn't it. An instantaneous cryogenic crystallization." Rose asked, leaning forward to touch the statue then lick her fingers. "Blech, tastes like satsuma."

"Did you really just lick that?" Jack asked, staring at her.

"Safe enough." She said, giving him a smile as he stared.

"Seriously? Licked it." Emma said, snugging up to Rose's back while leaning over her teammate to take some readings off the statue. "Gross. Oh. Hallo there, I'm getting a heartbeat."

"What, from inside the ice?" Saxon asked, budging up into the corridor with them. Johnson stayed outside, guarding the rear as the science nerds all clambered over the new discovery.

"Seen it before." Rose said, shaking her head. "Been in it before. Dead boring, but not really that bad. Makes you taste satsumas for a week though."

"That sounds awful." Emma breathed, wrinkling her nose at Rose.

"I do hate satsuma's." Saxon nodded, leaning forward to sniff the acrid chemical smell that accompanied the satsumas. "There's an underlying scent of Huon particles and tang of Tachyons. Rose. I don't know what those are. Rose, why do I know that?"

"Haven't a clue, but you're right." Rose said, brushing him off as he grabbed her elbow. "Give off."

"Right. Tachyons I've heard of." Emma said, keeping up with the conversation, for the most part. "But what are Huon particles?"

"They're sort of...teleporting particles?" Rose was distracted as she began patting down her pockets, clearly searching for something. Jack picked up the explanation at that point.

"They are all over time and space and when they clump together they have a tendancy to teleport whatever they are infused in, to the nearest clump." Jack explained, complete with hand motions that were only slightly restricted by the tailored fit of his coat. "The question is-Why are they in something that freezes the body?"

"Dunno." Rose said, before running her hand down the leg of the statue with one hand to check out it's foot. It appeared to be standing on something, Rose tugged, but it was firmly underneath their foot. She looked down and it looked as though the papers were blown out in a circle underneath him. "I think, that he was transported here. The cryogenic freezing takes a few seconds. Feels rather like your limbs are going numb and then asleep. It's quite pleasant actually."

"Pleasant? Sounds right dreadful." Emma shivered, peering closer to her scanner and moving it around the frozen man.

"Aha!" Rose exclaimed, her hand that was rummaging around in her coat pockets emerging victorious with a baggy of white crystals clenched in her fist. "Salt. Counteracts the particles but it'll take some time for him to thaw out. Mean time, check out these papers."

"The ones under his feet?" Jack asked, fingers flicking to the creases in his pants to adjust them so he could crouch next to her. "I don't recognize this writing."

"I do." Rose said, her voice strangled, as she recognized the whorls and circles of Gallifreyan She could recognize the language, but there was something a little off, as if it had been xeroxed multiple times as some of the lines were broken and faded. "Haven't a clue how to read it, but I do know it."

"Bag and tag 'em, Graham." Jack said, standing back up and grimacing as he resettled his long coat. "Make sure you get all of them."

"Why me?" Emma grumbled, even as she immediately put her stuff away to start gathering up papers. She did her best not to touch them and slid them into a file that she had brought with her. The other scientists looked at her for a moment before continuing their discussion.

"So what've we got." Rose said, tipping her head to the side as she placed her hands on her hips. "Cryon tech, Gallifreyan writing. Sounds like someone is collecting."

"But what can they make with all of this?" Harry asked, picking up a piece of the paper up between his forefinger and thumb gingerly. His eyebrows shot upward and he lifted the paper closer to his face, lifting his elbow above Emma's head so he didn't smack her in the face with it. "Especially with plans for a transporter."

"You can read that?" Rose asked, practically shoving Emma and Jack out of the way to get to Harry. "Harry, how can you read that?"

"You called me Harry!" Saxon said, looking up at Rose with a grin on his face. When she motioned towards the papers in his hands he looked down, startled. "What, oh! Yes. Quite easily so. Why, can't you?"

"Saxon, that is Gallifreyan. How can you read that?" Rose asked.

"What happened to Harry?" Saxon asked, a frown tugging at the bottom of his lip. "I liked Harry. And it's in English, isn't it?"

"There's circles and dots." Emma said helpfully. "I don't even think there are even letters in there."

"Oh. How peculiar." Harry peered at the paper as if he were trying to force a disconnect between his eyes recognizing the writing and his brain understanding it. He shrugged before facing the papers to Rose and tapping them with his forefinger. "Still. Transporter. Looks dimensional."

"Really?" Rose asked, interested as Emma skirted the frozen man to continue on the way. The younger woman was trained with the guns that lay under her own leather jacket and was actually better with them than Rose. "Dimensional, you say."

"Got another one here." Emma called back, pulling her scanner out from where she had tucked it. "No papers this time."

"I'm outta salt." Rose said to the next frozen form, following her friend to check on the the woman . "Sorry."

"We'll come back for them. All of them." Emma said, a bit of steel in her voice as she stared down the hallway. They were all frozen in various poses of escape, one even poised as if they were climbing up a ladder, that had been placed carefully on their side, as if they had been caught and lowered down gently with care. There were twenty in all, of various ages and ethnicity as well as from different lifestyles. On one end, there was a streetwalker, that was frozen in the act of twisting away from an unseen attacker and on the other, a corporate business man frozen in the middle of a dead sprint away from the exit. Rose made sure to say that she was sorry to every frozen human that they passed that she couldn't help each and every one of them at the moment. When they came through to the end of the tunnel, the frozen mannequins were more spaced out, as if there were more time between each snatch leading to the end. At the farthest end, the woman looked to be dressed in fashions from the nineteen fifties.

"They've been at this for a really long time, I see." Rose said, fingering the smooth casing over the bright fabric with whorls and paisley. The woman was frozen halfway into a scream of terror and was leaning backward so far as to almost unbalanced, clenching the top of her dress closed. "Oh god, think of the paperwork for the reintegration of these people. Oh, m'head."

"Oh, don't lie." Emma said, rolling her eyes. "You're just going to make me do it, aren't you."

"Now you've got it." Rose said, clapping her friend on the shoulder and giving her the smile that showed a little bit of teeth and her tongue tucked up against the inside. "C'mon Grahams, I'd help."

"Such a lie." Emma said, before grabbing her arm and thrusting her behind Jack. She nodded to Johnson for him to go first as she pulled out her smaller but no less intimidating modded hyper beamed pistols. Rose linked her fingers through the loops of Jack's coat because much as she hated it, she was heir of Vitex and daughter of the head of Torchwood. Priority number one, as far as any team she took to the field was concerned, was to get her out alive. It was frustrating and annoying and she really wanted to tell Pete where to shove it, but the look on Jackie's face when she'd come home with a broken arm and the subsequent hysteria made her acquiesce.

"Johnson, cover Graham, Harry stay out here. Jack and I'll go in next. Harry, if you see anything, scream like a little girl. Otherwise, be very, very quiet and hide " Rose cautioned, rolling her eyes as she pushed Harry down and out of the way. Harry held up a finger for patience, then mimed zipping his lips. Rose strengthened her gaze on him. "Do you understand me, Harry?"

Harry mumbled through closed lips, moving his facial features like he would, had he been speaking normally. Rose gave him an exasperated look, pinching his forearm. Saxon flashed her a hurt look before miming reopening his mouth to say, "Yes, Marm."

"Oh god, just zip it back up, Saxon." Rose hissed, horrified of that word.

"Saxon, you screw up and I'll kill you." Jack whispered casually, stroking his blaster at his side.

"Welcome to the field." Johnson whispered, winking at the man shrunk behind the statues and raised a heel to smash the lock. He glided aside to let Emma into the room with her modded guns out and ready as he was able to fire over her smaller frame.

It was cold, and had the sterile smell of a laboratory that was wallowing in it's own stink for far too long. Rose found the computer first, the strange pictographic shapes she remembered from her stay on the frozen planet. The same things that were printed on her toast in the morning that she was quite confident were curses in Cryon from the toaster. She paused for a moment, her hand poised over the controls as she tried to recall exactly what buttons to push and where to put her hands in order to unfreeze the people in the hallway.

"We're clear. Looks like nobody's been here in a while." Emma said, putting her guns away. "There's a bunch of wires and some junk at the back of the hallway, and some holes from laser fire in the walls, but other than that, no clue as to what happened."

"Somebody go get Saxon then, I'm gonna need him for the control panel. Jack, you too." Jack gave her a mock salute and she made a face at him, returning to the computer while letting her hair shade her face as she worked. A chill, more than what the cold room could account for, danced along her spine and she turned slightly to look behind her. Something scuttled out of sight. She slid her right hand under her jacket to wrap her hand around the even colder metal strapped to her side and turned casually. "If you come out, I'm not gonna have t'shoot you."

Rose edged towards the corridor, kicking aside a metallic hand that was blasted off of an arm. It looked rebotic, and that put her teeth on edge, but as it was not actually attached to anything, she let herself lean over farther. She was so focused on finding out what was scurrying around the corner, that she didn't notice a cord lifting itself to wrap up on her leg. From that one single cord, an entire head of a Cyberman rose from the wreckage, shaking scraps of metal and burned out cording off as it rose up. Rose gave a scream and fell back, but it was too late, as wires thick as her wrist flew out of the Cyberman to wrap around her head, holding her in place while the front part opened.

"Everyone down!" Emma yelled, while hitting the quick release on the preacher gun that Johnson always carried on his back since the Cyberman invasion. They all hit the floor as well as they could, Harry diving behind a console that theoretically shouldn't have housed him, Johnson shooting at the power source that the cables were connected to, doing his best to take it out before the Cyberman could take her over.

The thing about the Preacher gun is, that when the gun was developed, the only way that Cybermen were caught was all in one piece, but the thing about Cybermen is, they evolve. They find their weaknesses and they make them better. The Preacher gun takes out the emotional inhibitor, but when it is just a head and cords to a power source, the chip was somewhere on the floor, mangled and crumpled and no longer attached, the gun is not quite as effective as it should be. Rose struggled with the metal wires pulling her head inexorably towards it.

"I've got no Doctor." Rose cried, using all of her strength to keep it off of her. "I've got no TARDIS, and no sonic bloody screwdriver. But hell if I'm losin' to you!"

With a final heave, Rose managed to evade it's thrust towards her face by sheer will power alone. Jack finally jumped into the fray, after having scooted around Johnson as the large man continued to fire at the power source. From behind the console, Harry made a happy gurgling sound while he lunged forward, shoving Emma to the side. His hand was clenched with his arm outstretched, a thin beam of yellow light streaming from his fist. The Cyberman head began to spark and Rose, giving a little cry of pain and startlement as the sparks burned her heands, threw the head away from her, smashing it against the wall. She fell backwards, landing inelegantly on her rear as she pulled her hands to her chest to curl around them in pain.

"Who needs sonic?" Saxon asked, smugly cradling the short silver wand like one would cradle a beloved toy. "When you've got laser. I found it behind the cabinets over there. Can I keep it?"

"Take it back to Torchwood, but put salvage rights on it for the armory." Rose winced as Jack grabbed her forearm to pick her up off the floor, pulling her way too far into his personal space, flush up against his chest, so that he could check out her hands. He turned them this way and that and then flipped up the casing on his manipulator. A golden dust mote floated out and over her palms, healing the cuts easily and efficiently. She remembered the last time she'd seen them and grinned. "Nanogenes, right?"

"Brilliant and gorgeous. Have I told you how attractive that is?" Jack said, running his hand down her back as she got a little light headed and wavered from the energy depletion after a single Nanogene did its work. "Sure you don't just want to come with me to the future?"

"The twenty first century is when everything changes." Rose said, grinning cheekily at him amd looping an arm around his neck as her legs were a little shaky. She reached up a finger to tap him on the nose as she was so relieved not to have a large mechanical face trying to eat hers, she was feeling a bit light headed. "You told me that once. Why would you ever want to miss that?"

"Just about had your face eaten off and you still find away to needle that you are right." Jack said, laughing. "Never pass up a chance to brag, do you?"

"Grab 'em with two hands." Rose said as Jack leaned her up against the console. "And don't think I'm not noticin' where you're grabbin', Jack."

"I'm just checking for injuries!" Jack said in a mock offended voice as he offered her a wide grin. "Could be broken, don'ch'ya think?

"Yes, yes very lovely. But look! It's laser!" Saxon said, running the silver wand through his hands lovingly.

"Careful with that Saxon, wouldn't want to give the brave Captain ideas." Emma said, bumping Harry's shoulder with her own while she reattached Johnson's Preacher gun. Saxon looked alarmed an then hastily tucked away the screwdriver in his coat pocket before Jack turned around to look at him with interest.

"Do you smell like that naturally? I've always wanted to ask." Rose asked, leaning forward and almost toppling off of the control panel where Jack had set her. She grabbed the lapels of his coat in her fists and dragged him close so that she could lay her head on his chest. "Really, you smell like cupcakes."

"Hold on a second." Johnson frowned and leaned forward, brushing Rose's long blond hair out of the way for a moment, exposing a puncture mark on her neck with the needle still embedded in her skin. "Neurological numbing toxin from the Cyberman. Slows down the brain and makes it easier to assimilate humans. Must've shot her while they were fighting."

"Thought she was acting a bit funny." Emma said, relieved as she took over the care of Rose, pulling out the needle and easing the older woman back gently. "Wait, Rose took the serum last week, why'd she be loopy now?"

"Ah." Jack said, shifting and looking a bit guilty. "That would be the Nanogenes. They do exactly what it says on the tin, the "heal all". They have a tendency to fix everything, not just the most immediate threat."

"Great." Emma said, rubbing her forehead with her hand. "Well, the good news is, it should wear off in about twenty minutes. Mean time, Johnson, see what you can do about the Cyberman now. Saxon, take a look at these documents and see if you can figure out how to turn this thing off and unplug it if possible."'

"No need to figure it out, I've got it!" Rose said, tipping sideways and falling off of the console. All of them leapt forward to help her, but she glared at them and pulled herself halfway on top of the console to hit some buttons and turn different dials. On the other side of the door, there were suddenly footsteps, then screaming as the frozen people in the next room began to wake up and find that they could not move at the moment. They would in a few moments and Jack headed out to charm the room. Rose rested her head on her arms and collapsed against the console. "Instantaneous metagenetic flux from cryogenesis!"

"Rose, calm down." Emma said, sitting her back against the hard wall. Rose shook her off. Golden tendrils of light floated out from her eyes in a nimbus. Emma stared at her in trepidation. "Rose, your eyes look a bit funny, you've got, like stuff comin' out of 'em."

"Don't be ridiculous." Rose said seriously, clapping her hands to her eyes and closing them. When she uncovered and opened them, the tendrils were gone and her eyes were back to their warm brown color, instead of a brilliant, shining gold. "Nothing there, see?"

Rose seemed to be recovering by the second, getting more befuddled by the controls but more herself. Jack seemed to be doing all right, explaining everything as best as anyone was able and they had a secondary team en route to come pick them up and to take them back and when they appeared, Jack came back, rubbing the top of his eyebrows with his forefinger and thumb. Rose leaned across the console, leaning forward on her elbows with her head in her hands and back bent. She was not looking forward to the clean up paperwork for this mess.

Rose could feel a hand ghost along her rear, but whether it is from Harry or from Jack, she isn't quite sure, so she straightens up quickly and glares with all the force she can muster in the general direction of the rest of the team. She's fairly certain that it wasn't Emma but Johnson has a peculiarly innocent look about him that makes Rose question whether or not he did it just to stir up trouble. Saxon, ignoring her ire, came up behind her and placed an arm across her shoulders.

"Oh, get off, Saxon." Rose said, exasperated, but secretly amused as he had the same huggy tendencies as the Doctor as well, the ability to invade space like they denied it even existed.

"Been trying, Rose." Saxon said in his husky, mellow voice."But you just won't cooperate."

"Right. I'm about to pop you one." Rose said, her face set. Jack hid a giggle behind a hand and Emma busied herself checking that they'd picked up all the documents that they were taking on the first run while Johnson checked to make sure he had all of his guns. They all laughed as Rose went to go out the door and shouted, "And I will break the next person that touches me!"

Emma ran up behind her, ruffled her hair all out of place and then took off down the now crowded corridor, practically leaping over the other Torchwood team, laughing uproariously as Rose made chase.


	12. In which Rose nearly shoots Saxon

Rose woke up the next morning with a roaring headache that always followed the Cyberman neurotoxin, and she barely had enough energy to roll over and smash the top of her alarm with the flat of her hand before she heard someone moving around in her kitchen. Rose pulled the sheets around herself and stumbled towards her kitchen with her Glock held loosely in her hand by her side. She made it to the doorway before collapsing delicately against door jam as she watched Emma and Harold bustle about her kitchen.

"My god. I nearly shot you." Rose said, and Emma turned around with a raised eyebrow.

"You sleep with your gun?" Emma asked, interested as she took in Rose's pajamas with little tiny teddy bears with jaded eyes. Rose turned the safety back on and placed her gun down on the counter so that she could pull the sheet tightly around her to block their view.

"Fat lot of good you are." Rose grumbled to her toaster. She had thought that they had come to an understanding. He no longer burned her toast and she made sure that he didn't get clogged up with crumbs. Harry looked up from where he was flipping pancakes and grinned toothily at her.

"Nice jimjams." Harry said, tossing a plate at her as she sat down and curled her legs up in front of her staring at the two in her kitchen. "The teddies are cute."

"I thought they were robbers." The toaster said defensively, as the both of them ignored the strangers in her kitchen.

"So you didn't think to give us a shout if it were true?" Rose asked, crossing her arms, trying to make sure that her sheet stayed up as she continued to argue with her toaster.

"I thought they might take me away!" The toaster wailed, popping out the toast just a bit early, but one pointed look from Emma and it curled the toast back in to toast for a bit longer. Rose buried her head in her hands

"And you lot. 'Ow the 'ell did you get in my house?" Rose asked, staring at them blearily, mumbling her appreciation as Emma put down a cuppa in front of her before patting her shoulder sympathetically.

"Nicked a key from your Mum." Emma said, helping herself to some of the pancakes after picking up an unused plate from the counter. "She's really quite worried about you."

"She's really quite mental if she gave you two idiots keys." Rose said crossly into her cup of coffee.

"Isn't she sweet in the mornings?" Emma cooed, to which Rose glared and Harry giggled.

"Could still shoot you." Rose mused, muttering into her toast.

"Not 'till you've heard the news." Harry said, doing his best not to spew crumbs across the table. "I had a look-see at the papers brought back from the lab. I deciphered the papers and by deciphered, I mean read. Still don't know why I can, but my money is on that part of my life I can't remember. Which is pretty much all of it."

"We'll work it out some time." Rose said, licking some marmalade off of the spoon and Emma wrinkled her nose in disgust. Rose turned to her friend and licked the whole spoon with the flat of her tongue, ignoring Harry's small noise. Emma made her own noise of disgust and went to get a new spoon for the marmalade.

"You and the licking." Emma mumbled, spreading the marmalade on her own bread.

"So, the papers?" Rose said, speaking around the spoon in her mouth. "I take it was sommin good if you two decided to make a trip."

"Right." Harry said, "Certainly not because you looked like death warmed over yesterday and we were all quite worried."

Harry then jumped, shooting Emma a glare as the two of them shuffled their feet under the table trying to kick each other after Emma had connected. Rose eyed the two of them and sank down in her chair to bite the rim of her tea cup drowsily.

"Spit it out, Saxon." Rose said, breaking the scuffle. "What'd'ya find."

"Lots of stuff, actually. I've transcribed the notes and we did try to call your mobile but you didn't pick up." Rose had woken up briefly to the ring, but she had seen it was Saxon and turned it off. Saxon continued as she cast her eyes down to her tea and didn't answer. "Mickey was wandering by and took a look at them an' gave us to Jackie."

"Terrifying woman." Emma said, cupping her cheek in her hand to lean on the table.

"Absolutely spiffing woman, I'm sure." Saxon assured Rose, "But Mickey sent us there and she gave a look and then handed us the key."

"So glad me mum's into home security." Rose grumbled. "Can I have m'key back, please?"

"It's on your bureau." Harry answered, flipping his spoon towards her to point.

"Hold on. You went into my room?" Rose arched an eyebrow.

"She did." Harry said, pointing at Emma. He pointed at his nose, and then at Emma. "All her. I did nothin'. I have no idea that you snore or that you drool!"

Both Rose and Emma stared at him with his suspiciously specific denial. Rose nodded, at him. "Right. I believe that."

"All right. I peeked. Just a little." Saxon said, leaning back in his chair, offering his forefinger and thumb as an illustration of the tiny amount that he saw. "Might've peeked. You were just so adorable!"

"That's it. I'm gonna kill you." Rose got up from the table and lunged towards Saxon, however, her sheet tangled up her legs and she found herself unable to move faster than tiny steps. Saxon made a run for it, abandoning the toast he'd coaxed out of the irascible toaster earlier and soldiers that he'd snagged out of her freezer before they could grow sentient life as he fled.

"The plans are definitely for a transporter. Something bigger and better than the little hoppers that we have now." Emma said, closing the door behind Saxon. They would find him later, and in the mean time, Rose finished off the sausages left on his plate. She paused for a moment, closed her eyes and breathed in sharply as she took in this information. Emma smiled, fingering the spoon of the jam, without looking at Rose. She said casually, "Big enough to break through the parallel universe's barriers, maybe."

"Now that, Emma." Rose's face burst into a smile. "That is good news."

Rose pulled on her lab coat as she entered into the experimental area, dodging Saxon neatly as she headed towards the salvaged equipment. She could feel the radiation crawling along her skin like tiny spiders. It wasn't harmful, she could feel that, but it was noticeable with the amount of Huon particles concentrated in a small area. The lead shielding was necessary, but incredibly disconcerting and the sound of the door closing was only a little muffled by the murmuring of the new squints. They were sweet, if a bit wibbly, and the new coffee boy was quite charming in his suit and debonair demeanor. She made a mental note to keep Jack out of the lab as much as possible or else they'd be likely to have a harassment suit on their hands. She still wasn't sure what Jack's standards were, but she was pretty sure that the silly Welsh chap hit them.

"So, don't be shy." Rose said, rolling up her sleeves as she started sorting. "What've we got then?"

"Well, we've got a stack of papers that no one but His Majesty can read, a metric ton of wires and metal that I'm not even sure what one or two components are, least of all to figure out what the final product does." The woman fisted her hands in the ends of her dark hair as she stared at the mess that Saxon was propagating as he tossed things about. "Dunno how we're going to get through this all."

"Well, let's see here. Junk, junk. Oh, spacial dampener! Junk, junk." Rose began tossing some things right over her shoulder and "Oh, and sod it all. More junk."

"See you're settling in." Saxon said, leaning over the table like counter with his feet off the ground. He dropped to the floor and rushed around the table while digging in his suit jacket. He beamed at her as he waggled the laser screwdriver in her face. "Oh, yes! I almost forgot. They let me keep it."

"That is absolutely terrifying." Rose said, brushing things off of her lap to go check out the large machine that a couple of the guys were just bringing in. It was huge, sterilized white, and full of clear tubes with an unidentified substance. Rose directed them to a corner where she would be able to reach it from 360 degrees for inspection. As she flipped through the screen, she heard a strange noise coming from beneath the console. She crouched, running her fingers over a panel on the side, fingers scrabbling for an edge to open. She managed to get a fingernail under the metal before it broke and she fell back with a curse, sucking on the finger after she tried to shake the pain out. Saxon leaned over to see what she was up to and she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"What?" Saxon asked, suitably suspicious of any time that Rose willingly, and without anyone prompting her, paid him attention.

"Give it. It's laser, but it's still a screwdriver." Saxon threw her a hurt look, before flicking the screwdriver open and pointing it at the square of metal over her shoulder, letting his arm rest on her shoulder as he aimed. "Good god. Just like a man to not let a girl touch his toys."

"You'll take it away, and I've just gotten it." Saxon frowned and slid his thumb along the side of the screwdriver, Rose sighed and rolled her eyes before prying her fingernails underneath the panel again and braced herself with her foot on the side of the console as Saxon popped the panel off with his screwdriver. Rose fell backward as the panel came off suddenly.

"Oooph!" She said, letting all of her air out in a gust as she landed inelegantly on her rear. The scrabbling noise increased and a small furry thing, the size and shape of a small child tumbled out into her lap. It was weak and lay on her lap where it flopped. "Oh my god! It's a Cryon child!"

"Why is it so weak? Quick, it's shivering." Emma took off her coat and wrapped it around the child. "Oh my lord. It probably hasn't eaten in days. What do Cryons eat, can they eat anything we have?"

"Fruit. Get me fresh fruit and some vegetables, but really your best bet is fruit." Rose said, tucking her hair behind her ears to see better. "I also need some room. You, go get me the doctor on duty, the little one, she looks competent."

The other scientists that had been recently hired to help catalog the extra load that Rose and her team had brought in, were headed by a brilliant little asian woman named Toshiko. Jack had actually taken her from out of the bowels of a secure military facility after the woman had built some very impressive machines from Cybus Industries technology that had caused some alarm to the higher CEOs Industry. Toshiko started to grab the scientists by the back of their jackets and gently guiding them to helpful places. Rose tossed Tosh a grateful glance and gave the small furry body in her arms the water in the waterbottle that Saxon threw her. Rose gave the child to Emma while she unscrewed the cap and tipped the waterbottle so that it could drink. As soon as the liquid hit the back of the child's throat, it began to splutter and sat up, with Emma nearly dropping the child out of fright.

"Watch it!" Rose said and the child made a moaning noise and flailed. It's arms went around Emma's neck, letting out a keening noise of fear.

"Shush, darling." Emma said, stroking it gently, rocking back and forth with her arms full of curly fur. "Shush, it's okay, you're safe here. Shhh, shhhhh."

It was the work of only a few moments before Rose had everyone bustled away, Jack in the opposite direction of the coffee boy, even as she absconded with a steaming cup for herself. Emma and their unexpected guest were bundled off to the medial wing to get the youngster something to eat and drink, even though they had been in stasis for most of that time, but they were still starving and dehydrated. Rose then stood, in the middle of the now deserted room, staring at a console with foreign words and symbols, willing them to make sense. She clapped a hand to her forehead as a sharp stinging pain began in the muscle over her eyebrow. As she rubbed at it, the room began to swim and she leaned forward, letting her hands slam onto the control panel with a sharp snarl of rage at the pain in her head.

The entire machine hummed to life under her fingers, the purring of a roaring engine filling the room like a tidal wave of sound. In an instant, her headache cleared, and she grinned down at the panels with a wide grin.

When all of the fervor calmed down, Pete found Rose melted into her chair, tipped back with her feet on her desk and arms over her eyes. He eased himself up onto her desk and tucked his foot under his other thigh casually. "How's he doin'?"

"He's fine. Emma's taking care of him pretty well." Rose said, lifting up her head to rub at her eyebrows with her forefinger and thumb. "I found the on switch to the thingie."

"Is that an alien technical term?" Pete asked casually, letting go of his foot to flip open her calendar absently. When he saw an entry marked out in sparkly purple pen, he leaned forward to squint at it before asking, "Are you going to make it to your meeting with that Cole girl?"

"Ah!" Rose said, flipping down her legs with a clunking noise and grabbing her jacket. "I completely forgot!"

"I figured as much." Pete said, holding up her jacket so that she could slide into it. "That tetchy Welsh boy took a look at your schedule and, "took the liberty of calling ahead," to inform her that you would be a bit late."

"He's handy." Rose said, smiling up at her surrogate dad. "I'd consider keeping him in the lab to make us all coffee, but I'm afraid that Jack would vanish into a closet with him, and we'd never see them again."

"Will you come over for dinner this weekend?" Pete asked, as Rose tugged on her calf length boots to make sure that they were on more fully so as to not leave blisters. "Jacks promises not to cook."

"I'll let you know. Mean time, I musn't keep the Lady waiting." Rose said, twiddling her fingers over her opposite shoulder as she left.

When Rose arrived, Lucy was sitting, pretty as a picture in the window seat of the teashop at which they agreed to meet. Rose had thought in the beginning that Lucy dressed strangely, with her simple dresses in pale colors, and later, suits with shiny pearls and fancy hair, until she realized that Lucy saw every tea date with Rose as she would a formal function, which required nice clothes, matching jewelry and not a single hair out of place. In response, Rose had smartened up her own wardrobe whenever she went out with the younger girl, because otherwise she felt like a boy going out with his girlfriend.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" She said, tossing her purple leather jacket on the chair before she accepted the chair that the server held out for her. Lucy merely smiled up at her and placed her teacup down on the table with a light chink of pewter.

"It is quite all right. I was getting a bit worried about you until that pleasant man called." Lucy said, turning the teacup by the handle with the outside curve of her pointer finger.

"The coffee boy?" Rose confirmed, smiling up at the server as he placed a glass of water in front of her and a small menu. "I could see how he would be described as pleasant."

"He did sound as if he would make brilliant coffee." Lucy said agreeably, smiling into her teacup as she raised it to hide her curved lips as if she were ashamed and speaking badly of Mr. Jones, however she couldn't keep from giggling into her tea. "Rather like a butler, it was quite amusing."

It was only moments until they were off, talking about the latest rumors and socialite gossip, a world that the both of them were privy to, Lucy with gusto and charm and Rose with wildly erratic reluctance. Rose's mobile kept going off, clattering against the silverware, but, seeing that it was from Saxon, she kept hitting the mute button to Lucy's widening smile.

"Do you need to get that?" Lucy asked, her eyes dancing with humor.

"Oh no. I'm sure it's just the idiot, muckin' about." Rose said, turning off the ring for what seemed like the millionth time. "I'm sure it's nothin'."

"All right then." Lucy said, her lips twitching.

They had five minutes of blessed peace and mindsoothingly polite conversation.

"Rose!" Saxon shouted, pushing his way past an obviously distraught waiter. "Answer your damned phone, woman!"

"Saxon! What are you doing here?" Rose asked, standing up so quickly in shock that she knocked her chair over backwards, and it landed with a large clatter that made Lucy put her hand to her mouth, though whether it was in shock or amusement at her friend, Rose did not know as her rage was mounting at the interruption from her second favorite idiot. "And I didn't answer my mobile because I am out. You know this."

"Inconsequential meanderings have no bearings when there are important things to be done!" Saxon said, glancing over at Lucy as she giggled behind her hand. Amusement it was, then. He turned to Lucy and stopped, staring at her with his mouth slightly ajar. Saxon seemed to come back to himself and turned to face Lucy more fully, his demeanor changing entirely. "Rose, please introduce me to your companion. It appears that I have been most rude."

And then Lucy, sweet, reliable, wonderful Lucy, took one look at Harold Saxon and was gone in a single instant, her child hood innocence shattered like the china doll she looked in her frilly white dresses with matching gloves, hat and purse. She licked her lips to wet them and said softly, "Hello."

"Oh no, don't you dare." Rose warned as Saxon lit up like Guy Fawkes day, pure joy suffusing his smile. "Don't even think about it."

"Rose seems quite reluctant to introduce me. I am Harold Saxon. I am the most clever man you will ever meet." He said, holding out a hand to take Lucy's and kiss her fingertips. Very old fashioned and just a touch too personal. "I am very pleased to make your acquaintance-?"

"Lucy. Lucy Cole." Lucy filled in her name quickly, not withdrawing her hand quickly as she was wont to do with unwanted contact from men. Rose had seen her manage that specific move so smoothly that most men didn't even realize that it was gone before she was halfway across the room. Rose watched all of this with a certain sense of impending doom. "I will have to take your word on most intelligent. From the way that Rose describes you, I would assume that the words most verbose and cynical would certainly apply."

"Rose!" Harry said, turning to her and biting down lightly on his fist with his usual dramatic flair. "What have you been saying about me?"

"Nothin' that isn't true." Rose said, rolling her eyes and placing her fists on her hips. "That you're a right prat who likes to bother me all day, even when I am off duty. Speakin' of. What're you doing here?"

"Ah. Well," Saxon stopped, suddenly tongue tied in front of a woman who did not know that there were aliens out there, that other such things existed, and did not live in their world of fantastical machines and constant terror.

"Oh go on then, twenty minutes." Lucy indulged, any awkwardness vanishing with her constant small smile tugging at her mouth.

"Lucy, you are the absolute best." Rose said, reaching over to squeeze her friend's fingers. As she was doing so, Lucy's mobile burst into raucous noise and fell off the tabletop to the floor. Saxon immediately knelt to give the phone back to Lucy, who smiled warmly at him. She checked the phone's lit face and her fingers flew to her mouth.

"Actually, I'm about to be not so best." Lucy said, shame faced. "I'd actually forgotten that I have an appointment with Father regarding the new set of books to be published. Catch you later this week?"

"That would be fantastic." Rose said, stomping on Saxon's foot as he shifted next to her, uncomfortable. Lucy giggled as Saxon looked at Rose reproachfully and stuffed his hands in his pockets, as though they were full of his secrets. Rose watched as Lucy packed up her things and said her goodbyes, Saxon's eyes watching the younger woman the whole time, and Lucy's cheeks staining a light pink.

"So, we have a bit of a situation back at the Hub." Saxon began to explain, and Rose felt her head throb as a headache, burgeoning all day long from that sharp pain, began to blossom.


	13. In which Rose drinks some very good tea

Rose sometimes wondered if she had really been employed as a babysitter of a bunch of hooligans instead of a highly acclaimed scientist that had to have the post office filter out the mail from the universities wanting her to come visit. She stared at the mess strewed across the floor of the lab, her cheek pressed into the palm of her hand as she held on to her other arm. She swore that she left a clean floor, she could testify that she had in front of whatever religious or legal presence you required, however when she returned, there was bits and pieces everywhere and a very confused Tosh was sitting in the middle of it.

"Well, I'd had a go, and then Saxon hit it, and it was like there was suddenly parts everywhere!" Toshiko said, looking perilously close to tears. She turned to Saxon and gave him such a glare. "I don't think he knows how to put them back together."

"Of course I do. I'm building something new is the problem." Saxon said, reaching down next to the console, pulling out some thin white paper sheets and laid them out on the drafting table after he swept everything off with a swipe of his arm. Tosh made a gurgling noise like she was being strangled by his ridiculousness, and just put her head in her hands.

"This?" Rose waved a hand towards the mess. "This is what you interrupted my afternoon with?"

"Don't be silly. I interrupted your afternoon because the Cryon has started throwing up and they need you in Medical." Saxon said, motioning with a hand as he leaned over the thin paper with a very sharp pencil and Rose stood there, gaping at him, that he'd wasted so much time when there was an actual emergency. He was calmly thumbing through the pages, and she had to physically restrain herself from actually strangling him, but she did not refrain from making a strangling gesture before she dashed out and down the hallway, skidding round the corner.

It was this that she missed, running down hallways in her only just appropriate shoes and clothes, chasing after danger and headlong into knowing that she was taking a stand, saying no, that when everyone else would run away, she would do something useful. Even if it meant getting sick on her new trainers the minute she ran through the door. Multicolored, chunky sick, that had her out of her shoes and heaving in sympathy in moments.

"I liked those trainers." Rose said mournfully as she checked out the the actual contents of the vomit. There was fruit, but there was also a pungent smell. Again, Satsumas. "Ah. Thawing sickness. Had me worse than that, I was throwing up for hours, repetitively. Still, I didn't mention it because he's native and I was informed that natives never got it. Should've thought he's young, and thawed out rather...unconventionally. Could be different."

"So he's going to be fine?" Emma said, her voice muffled by the arms fuzzy fur as it clasped about her neck. The little child made mewling little cries of misery. Emma eyes were concerned, and it was the only part of Emma that Rose could see from behind the wispy white fluff. "He's not going to implode or sommin?"

"Shouldn't, no." Rose said, smiling at her friend. She beckoned over the tiny little doctor that worked in in their alien intensive care. "Doctor Jones, could you get me an IV that you would use for dehydration, please."

"Right away, Marm." Doctor Jones mumbled, giving her such a look before going to do as Rose bid. Rose made a face as she turned back to Emma.

"Look at you now, you look like a right proper mum." Rose said, hopping up on the bed next to her friend. She stroked the child in a way that she had seen the older Cryons do when they had met some, behind the shiny, mask like ridges on the side of their face.

"I'm too young to be a mum." Emma protested, shooing Rose's hand out of the way to do the same.

"Didja hear that?" Rose asked, cupping a hand around her ear. "That's your maternal clock, and I think it's just gone tick tock."

"Do you know who is going to take care of him?" Emma asked, and the soft sound of even breath signaling that the child had finally relaxed enough to fall asleep. Emma cradled him in her arms and pulled up a leg to support the limp body.

"I think they're going to leave him at the center. Be taken care of by the doctors." Rose said, falsely casual, staring hard at the younger woman, whose face was troubled. She propped her head up on her hand as she leaned across the hospital bed, at her waist, her palm plumping out her lower lip. "All alone, here in this sterile room."

"That's horrible." Emma said, looking at her with wide eyes.

"I know!" Rose exclaimed, opening her mouth with shock. "If only there was someone who could take him home, and take care of him."

"Ah." Emma said, letting her arms relax and the child dropped into her lap. Emma glared at Rose suspiciously. "I see what you're doin'."

"I haven't a clue what you're on about." Rose said, opening her eyes up wide to look as innocent as possible.

"Oooh, don't even try that with me, darlin'." Emma shook her finger in Rose's face. Rose merely watched the anger on her friend's face with a wide grin.

"If you'd like, I can have a word with Pete about you being able to take care of him." Rose said, crossing over her leg behind her other, leaning heavily on her elbows. "Fix 'im up with a spacial distorter, that'll make people think he's human. You can tell people he's home schooled."

"What about the job?" Emma asked, her eyes wounded.

"Well, we'd be sad to see you go from the away team, but lab could be scheduled around other things." Rose said, her eyes sliding to where the tiny, dark doctor was hovering, looking foreboding with her stethoscope twirling in her fingers. "Or I could suggest Johnson take care of him, he's got somewhere round thirteen of them."

"I can do both." Emma said firmly. "I love the away team, and I'd love to take care of this one. I see no reason I can't do both. I live with my mum. She can help."  
"You'll have to tell your mum he's an alien, he can't use the distorter all the time, otherwise he'll start getting fuzzy round the edges." She had a brief glimpse of something, but it didn't feel like her memories. She would touch on that later. "Sides, accidents happen, and she'd find out eventually."

"Mum knows I work with aliens, and she's always wanted to meet one." Emma said, cogs whirling in her brilliant brain. "She'll think it right jolly once I convince her he's real."

"If you think it'll work." Rose said, delighted. She really didn't want to get rid of Emma, she was turning into an excellent field agent. And she wasn't dead yet, that was the most promising information of all. "Naturally, we'll have to send someone round to check every once and a while, but if you can work it out, I'd love to keep you."

"I can do it." Emma said, not even having to think about her paycheck with the insane amount of money that they were paid to be attacked by rabid aliens on a daily basis. Jack poked his head into the infirmary.

"I hear we have more Cryons." Jack said, bounding into the sick bay. He wiggled his fingers like jazz hands. "Ooo. It's fluffy."

"Hands off, Jack, it's young and had enough excitement for one day." Rose said, smiling up at her friend. She stood up, straightening the folds of her clothes as she rose before she tucked her hand under Jack's arm. She clapped a hand on Emma's shoulder as she left, her head leaned over to rest on his shoulder.

"You seem tired. You holding up all right?" Jack asked, resting his arm on her shoulder and curling up his arm to stroke her hair.

"Of course!" Rose said, attempting one of her glowing grins that always put people at ease just for Jack. He deserved the best lie she could give him. When she returned to her desk, she put her head face down on her flat top, rolling it back and forth to assuage a roaring headache that began back in the teashop with Saxon. She gritted her teeth and pinched her nose, keeping the bridge of her nose tight between her fingers.

"Your tea, Rose." The soft, welsh voice of the most organized man in all of existence caused her to bang her head on the table, hard, as she jumped. "Ooops. That sounded like a bad one."

"You are such a life saver." She sighed. She accepted the tea from Ianto gratefully.

"I see you are looking at Saxon's bird scratches." Ianto said, leaning against her desk and crossing his legs at the ankles to look over her work.

"Yeah. Most of it is complete bollocks, but somma it, it's like...it almost makes sense?" Rose laughed and then rubbed at her cheeks with the meaty part of her palm "The rest o' it, it's like, it's there, but I dunno how to explain it."

"Saxon thinks it'll work." Ianto said, magiking a second cup of tea out of no where with his clever hands.

"Saxon has also been caught licking the walls., sorry, not much faith." Rose said, her head feeling better with the fortifying herbs in the tea. "Aaah. Good old superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin."

"What?" Ianto asked, lifting up an eloquent eyebrow before taking a sip of his tea.

"Nuthin. Just..sommin I heard once." Rose shook her head, as if trying to rid her head of an awful thought. "Speaking of the rotten devil 'imself, I probably should go check on Saxon. Make sure he hasn't cut himself on some scissors or somethin'."

"Probably a good plan." Ianto agreed, amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes. Rose reached out to squeeze his shoulder.

"Thank you, really." Rose said, making all of her gratefulness shine out through her eyes. "I think this entire department would have sorta just imploded in on itself if you weren't here."

"It would have absolutely shite coffee, that is true." Ianto said, smiling into his cup, a faint pink tinge spreading across his cheeks. "Now go, before I say something equally as nice."

"Thanks, Ianto." She let go of his shoulder, and he swatted at her with his free hand.

"Go. Go make sure that Saxon doesn't burn the house down round us." Ianto said, and Rose laughed, finally feeling light for the first time in a few hours. She went searching down the labs until she came to one that had a steady drum beat vibrating the plexiglas. As Saxon turned in a professional dancer's twirl, he spotted her and grinned. Saxon turned the music way up and held a hand out to her, singing, "Here come the drums. Here come the drums."

"What are you on about, Saxon?" Rose asked, laughing as he spun her into his arms. He dipped her so her blond hair brushed the floor and then snapped her back up as the music started again, pulling her into a fast chacha with him as he continued to sing,

"Hey there baby, baby. You are my Voodoo child, my Voodoo child. Don't say maybe, maybe. It's supernatural, I'm coming undone." To punctuate the sentence, he dropped her into a hold worthy of a dancing champion before curling her back into his arms. His hips moved against hers and she felt herself responding, dancing with him around the lab with all the childish glee that was Harry Saxon. The song ended and there was silence with the two of them staring at each other, wondering what that spark was, the thing that drew them together. Harry clasped her cheek in a warm hand, pulling her closer and dropping his eyes to her lips briefly before dragging back up to her eyes. "There is just something about you. Some spark. Something that smells of Time, of the Vortex, of the-"

He dropped his hand, and took a violent step back, like he was literally ripping himself away from her. "You smell of the Bad Wolf."

"I-on the other side of the wall-I looked into the heart of the TARDIS which is this machine that travels through space and time with a man called the Doctor." She felt all of the laughter slide out of the room with that. "It was a life time ago."

"Be careful Rose, some times, lives have a tendency of...catching up." His eyes for a moment were not of playful Harry Saxon, the man that had built a veritable shrine to his laser screwdriver, who skidded around tight corners with all of the glee of a toddler, it was something old and powerful that looked out at her. She shivered, staring deep into those brown eyes and after a moment, Harry gave his own little shudder, before bounding over to the stereo and shouting, "I love this song!"

"Hold on, what were you sayin'?" Rose asked, turning the volume back down, looking at Harry closely.

"That I love this song? Really Rose, it's a good song." Saxon said, concerned.

"No, before that, you said somethin' about past lives catchin' up." Rose said, staring at her friend.

"Before that, I was singing., Rose, are you feeling all right?" Saxon asked, concerned as Rose stared at him.

"'M fine, I just thought. I thought I heard you say sommin." She said, watching Saxon out of the corner of her eye, turning to leave. As she turned, Saxon grabbed her wrist.

"Rose, get some sleep. You look ruddy awful."

"Thanks Saxon." Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Just what a girl likes to hear."

"Not what I meant. Now g'wan, get." Saxon swatted her behind and she gave him an affronted look before he returned to the plans and she left. She thrust her hands into her pockets to keep her hands warm as she waited for the Dirigible, and found her old mobile. She hadn't even turned it on since she had landed there, after she tried one failed call to the TARDIS, but she kept it in her pocket, and she rubbed her thumb over it's face before pressing the power button.

The familiar screen lit up and she opened up her recent calls, the list was still full of six letters in all caps that made her heart clench painfully. Twice today, she'd been reminded of him, and each time, it hurt a little less. Her thumb hovered over the delete button, but as she brought it down to rest, she thought better of it, and shut off the phone, it couldn't connect to anything anymore. She placed it back in her pocket, mumbling, "Bloody useless thing, anyway."


	14. In which Rose tracks an Alien

She was staying late, working on some last minute paperwork, sometimes she thought that that was all her job really was, paperwork, when she got the call on her desk phone. It was a short call, from Pete.

"Sorry to bother you, Rose, but you're needed in the Hanger." His voice was clipped, worried. "Now."

"Yeah, all right." She said, reaching over her desk to grab her satchel. It had everything that she needed in it. The body armor that they had was better than Kevlar and came from the shed skin of one of the beasties they kept in the basement. Lighter than air but harder than steel, it seemed to just flow the bullets or whatever was trying to nick it's surface right off. She also kept a high grade torch with extra batteries for when it couldn't charge in the sun. This sounded like a full job, so she grabbed a set of rations as she did have a tendency to be the one stuck in the thick of it and when she was, she always felt better thinking on a full stomach. Inside, she jittered, excited about the adventure that was right out the door.

On her way out, she ran into Saxon who was heading out the door for the night, having worked late as well. He was freshly shaved, showered and clearly squeaky clean. He must have used the lab showers because there was no way that he could have gotten that clean than in the high powered jets of the Decon chamber. She caught a whiff of whatever he was wearing and raised her eyebrows as he fell in step with her down the corridor. "Look at you, soldier. Where you off to?"

"Bit of personal business to attend to." Saxon said, grinning at her straightening his tie as he walked, until Rose took over, turning round to walk backwards as she slid the knot along.

"Ooo looks like a date." She ran her fingers round the inside of his collar and sniffed them, her eyes flashing with mischief. "Smells like a date."

"Could be a date." He said, giving a little spin with his hands flared and his fingers twiddling. "I'd like if it were a date."

"Who with?" Rose asked, curious. "You're a right proper hermit, you are. Can't see that you've met many girls."

"Met you, didn't I, darling?" Saxon taunted, continuing his dance step down the halls. Rose laughed, adjusting the collar around his tie appropriately. She patted down the fabric, smoothing it over his chest with light fingers.

"That you did, Harry." She grinned brilliantly at him. Harry escorted her to the plane in the helicopter bay, a strange hybrid between the two that really ran off some hovercraft hardware that they'd scavenged.

"Well, good luck, stay safe." He said, giving her a hand up into the first step. He had been completely purged of any will to join them in their dangerous salvaging missions after the last time. He was perfectly content to remain king of his lab and give them toys that he worked on with Rose to keep themselves safe. He pushed some of her blonde hair out of her face before brushing a kiss across her cheek. "I'll give your best to Lucy."

"Wot!" Rose asked, her voice sharp. Her accent, which had been clearing, got more pronounced when she was shocked or stressed. "Lucy? 'Ow the 'ell did you even get her number?"

"Rose dearest. Please." He said, making that familiar moue of smugness that always made her want to slap him. "I am a genius."

"When you picked up her phone. Oh you are a right sneaky one, aren't you." Rose said, grabbing him by the lapels to pull him close, nose to nose. "You hurt her and I will make your life a right misery for however long you may have left. Do ya got me?"

"Goodbye Rose! Take care!" Saxon called out over his shoulder and Jack picked up Rose bodily to shove her farther into the plane. She was fuming that Saxon could be so devious and she sat down with a creaking of leather. She was between Jack, who smelled like a fresh batch of cupcakes, and Johnson, who always smelled vaguely of gun oil and sweat. She scooted closer to Jack who lifted an arm and tucked her under it. "Right, so. Who has the case file?"

"Me." Emma said, jumping into the van and pulling the door shut behind her with something that approached a slam. She was out of breath and flashed them all a quick smile before laying out all the information on the table that was bolted to the bottom of the van between the two bench like seats. "Looks like a double incursion, there are two hotspots within ten miles of each other. One is a bit older, and the other is very recent. The recent one came up in the middle of the local swimming pool."

"So. Likely a water breather, or at least moderately aquatic." Jack said, grinning. "I once dated a mermaid."

"Shut up. You did not." Rose said, jostling him with an elbow. "There's no such thing."

"Aliens off of XP3-298. Head and shoulders of a woman, bottom tail of a fish." Jack said, grinning.

"Where did you..." Emma started to ask. She stuttered to a stop and then sighed and put her head in her hands. "You know what? I don't want to know. Right. So. Where were we?"

"Aquatic?" Johnson asked, desperate to deflect attention back to the matter at hand. "Certainly not water soluble."

"So that lets out everything from the Canternian cluster."

"So that leaves only what?" Rose sighed and rolled her eyes. "Six billion others. Fantastic."

"What else've we got?" Jack asked, leaning towards Emma. Emma cleared her throat and continued.

"Every time this thing surfaces, there are neighborhood reports of small animals and children going missing. Last time it was two five year olds, a pair of twins." Emma gulped. "They still haven't been found."

"So." Rose said, slowly. "Carnivorous. Narrows it down."

The car was silent for a few minutes, and then the driver, the weedy, brown haired man stopped the car for them to disembark. He pulled out a book to read before waving absently at them as they left. The crested the hill together, the sun blazing on their backs as they spread out. Emma had a scanner in her hand, something that Rose, Jack and Saxon had cooked up together, it analyzed the biological signatures and matched it against a database of animals, plants and things native to earth for a match. If it didn't find one, then it registered as a blip. Rose had helped build it but she hadn't a clue on how to read it. That was Emma's forte.

"Emma?" Rose asked, her hands on her hips. "What've we got?"

"I'm not reading any strange signatures, but it could be underground or in the water. You know the signal can't get there." Emma said, her eyes glued to the little tiny screen as they came down off of the hill.

"Are we close to where the first incursion was?" Rose asked, and Emma tossed the file at Jack before turning back to the scanner. Jack grinned and flipped open the file.

"We're about a mile east of it, but they dropped us off here because we need to check the soil up until that point." Jack said, and Rose dipped down to take a handful of dirt to sniff.

"Smells like sulfer." Rose commented, "Narrows it down."

The climbed in silence over another hill. Rose stopped and stared at Johnson as she heard a small noise. Johnson glanced at her and asked, "What?"

"Are you..." Rose asked hesitantly. "Humming?"

"No." Johnson said, sticking his thumbs in the straps of his shoulder holsters and shifting away from her. Rose began to laugh and caught Johnson's arm, falling into him as she trudged down the path towards the place marked on the map. She noticed some strange skid marks and went to investigate them. She slid her boot into them, tracing along with her foot. It looked like something smaller had dragged through a larger ridge. A tail? She looked around and noticed matching marks on either side like prints.

"Oi. Come take a look at this." Rose said, her boots sinking in the soft mud. "Are there any crocodiles or alligators in this area?"

"No." Emma said absently. She stopped and looked down as she nearly fell into the deep impressions. She then said softly, "Oh."

"So, has a tail. Narrows it down." Rose said, and she pushed her fingers into the footprints. "Also very big. Narrows it down."

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Jack asked quietly, grabbing her arm.

"Not a clue." Rose admitted, whispering. She then giggled as Jack grinned at her. She couldn't tell if it was in humor or hysteria. She could put a pretty good front that she knew what she was doing but only in reference to other humans in their time period. She sometimes felt as though she were swimming in a deep pool at the very surface, barely treading water.

"I've got something!" Emma shouted, running off as fast as her legs to could take her, the rest of them chasing after as she sprinted. Lucy once asked Rose how she stayed so fit, so trim and she had considered before answering with an absolutely delighted smile that it may be the massive amounts of running in her life. She was just starting to get that burn in her chest of not enough air when Emma skidded to a stop. She then crouched and elbow walked herself to the crest of the hill, pulling out her binoculars. She waved them forward and they all followed suit, inwardly grimacing as the mud soaked through their clothes in the front.

It was something like ten feet long and very dense, solid muscle with sharp teeth and claws. And a collar.

"Well, that answers that question. It's not an advanced species, it's a pet." Rose said, tracing the collar with her finger.

"Could have been left behind or could have an owner somewhere around here." Jack said, propping his head up on his hand. "First order of business, neutralize the pet. Johnson, what've you got?"

"Elephant tranks?" Johnson asked, "Think they're enough?"

"It's much the same size, but the hide looks to be a bit thicker." Jack answered. "Think it'll punch through?"

"Well, we'll see." Johnson shouldered his rifle and took aim. He barely even moved when the gun went off, and far out across the hollow, the alien dropped with a thud.

"Is it dead?" Rose asked, concerned.

"Shouldn't be." Jack said, considering the size and the weight as well as the genetic makeup.

"Chasing aliens is a very exact science with you two, isn't it." Emma snorted. Rose elbowed her and Emma gave her an annoyed glance back.

"S'pose it could be worse. Without us, you lot'd be fumbling around in the dark, trying to use that hair dryer as a gun." Rose grinned, remembering when she'd kindly taken the hair dryer out of Tosh's hands as she aimed it and pointed out how to use it correctly. "Leastwise we have some clue."

"Oh, you are so clever." Emma said, rolling her eyes and behind Rose, she could hear Johnson snicker into his gloved hand."

"Well, anyway, let's go check it out. Johnson, keep an eye on the perimeter, Emma, eyes to the scanner, Jack, you're with me." Rose said, as Emma grumbled and hid behind her scanner.

"Bossypants."

"C'mon Jack." Rose said, grinning at her friends. Jack gave her a lazy salute before slinging his arm across her shoulders. She twined her fingers with his as they went down to the alien. It was a work of moments, checking for a pulse and finding it strong. Rose jumped when the alien twitched in it's sleep, but it seemed pretty solidly asleep. A brief pat that required all of her courage and then the two of them went to work tying its taloned paws together. When it was well secured, Rose stood to look at the paw prints and they began to follow them backwards, motioning Emma and Johnson down from the hill. They tracked the prints back towards an empty space in the woods.

"D'you smell that?" Rose asked, taking a deep whiff. "Smells like chips."

"I don't smell anything." Emma said, shaking her head.

"I smell ozone. Space particles." Jack said, and Johnson put on a pair of dark shades before he pulled out his pistol, shooting into the clearing. There was a pinging noise and all of the rest of the team threw themselves flat as the bullet rebounded off of something invisible. Jack threw himself in front of the girls, and there was a dull thunk as the bullet embedded itself in a tree by Rose's head and Rose stared at it for a minute, her mouth open.

"Bit dangerous, yeah?" Rose breathed. Johnson shrugged.

"I could see it. Thermal goggles. Checked 'em out right before we left. " Johnson said stoically, unconcerned about the gauge in the trunk. "I hit some sort of sensor array. The invisibility should be dropping any second now."

"Ohh." Rose said, holding out a hand to try the shades. She clapped them on her face and she checked out the ship before the invisibility faded. "Looks like your old ship, Jack. Chula!"

"I haven't seen a ship like this for years." Jack said, his eyes wide as the invisibility dropped.

"Keep sharp people, if the ship is functional, it is highly possible that the pilot is still alive." Rose warned, leading the way to the side of the ship, as her eyes began to burn. She placed her palm on the touch pad next to the door, and keyed in a sequence with light fingertips.

"What was that?" Emma asked, peering around her as the door slid open.

"Emergency medical override for a Chula warship. Opens any lock with a keypad on a Chula ship." Rose said, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hand. "Jack taught me that ages ago. Well not you Jack, but another Jack."

"There is another me? I can't tell you what is going through my head right now." Jack said, grinning at her. "You'd slap me."

"I have a pretty good guess. It's what was going through your head when you heard that there was once five doctors in one go." Rose said, ducking under the short door to enter the ship, pulling out one of her guns. As they didn't know what was behind these doors, she flipped the switch on the side to plasma. She knew, in the back of her brain, that the plasma would cut through anything that would be a danger to them.

"I don't know who this Doctor person is, but if it were more of you, Rose..." Jack said casually.

"Really? Here? You two are going to do that here?" Emma asked, annoyed. Johnson snorted as Jack and Rose giggled quietly. Jack reached under Rose's jacket and pulled out her other plasma pistol for himself. Johnson pulled out some of the biggest, heaviest guns he had, things that could probably take out the spaceship itself and motioned them forward.

"Shush, children." Johnson said, nudging the gigglers in the back to make them step more fully into the ship. Rose and Jack led the way, taking cover before they went into a room. As they approached the cockpit, Rose put her finger to her lips as they entered even though no one was speaking until she was right next to the pilots chair. She cocked the gun with her spare hand as she said,

"By the power granted to me as a founding member of the Shadow proclamation, I order you under convention 22, by the subclause protecting sentient life, to leave this world in peace." Rose said. When the pilot chair did not turn, nor make any sort of movement at all, she reached out a cautious hand, spinning the chair. The smell then reached them, of decay and rotting meat. As a precautionary measure, Rose still cautiously rapped on the helmet with her knuckles. Rose muffled her nose into her wrist, and said,"Well, certainly smells like no one's home."

"Ship's clear." Emma said, calling out from where she had wandered.

Rose leaned over, her hands flying over the controls as she checked out the stats of the ships. She frowned as she saw a blip go off on the radar of the ship. Rose frowned and narrowed down the parameters as she tucked her gun back away. "Oh bollocks."

"Rose?" Johnson asked, concerned.

"Using the medical code set off some alarms to a Chula ship in orbit out by the edge of the system. They're headed here." Rose answered.

"How soon until it gets here?" Jack asked, threading his fingers through the shielding that was hanging out, the other side of where Johnson had shot the ship.

"Bout twenty minutes? Sorry." Rose said, taking the screen out on an adjustable arm and flipped it at a ninety degree angle so the symbols all lined up. " More like two."

"Ooo aliens! Real. Life. Aliens!" Emma said, clapping her hands.

"You live with one." Johnson pointed out.

"Real life other aliens?" Emma asked, uncertain. She sometimes forgot that the Cryon was an alien, he seemed so much more like a human child that wouldn't take off their Halloween costume. "I'm still excited."

"Right then ladies and gents, look smart, this could be the first time these aliens have ever seen a human." Jack said, picking up a human military hat that was laying haphazardly on the console. He brushed off the hat with a tutting noise and then placed it firmly on his head. He cocked a head at Rose who smothered a giggle as he tapped the brim lightly. They headed outside and Rose could feel the percussive force before the ship could even be seen, like plastic wrap pressing to her skin.

The ship wasn't that large in comparison to some that she had seen, it was the size of a small building and it seemed to do the approximate equivalent of skidding to a stop over their heads and Rose could feel her hair blowing back with the force of the wind. It looked mostly geometric, and was colored in shades of grey and black. Emma gave a little frightened sound deep in the back of her throat and Johnson looked at it with an appraising eye.

"I could take it." Johnson said, his hand sliding to what was the approximate equivalent of an antiaircraft gun that he sometimes took on their bigger jobs. Rose had to put the back of her wrist to her mouth to keep her amusement contained. The spaceship touched down with a screech and the doors opened with a hissing noise.

There was a bright flash of light and in a split second, the entire team vanished in a blue glow.


	15. In which Rose gets some important information

Rose inhaled sharply as she woke, uncomfortable. She tried to roll over as her mattress was a bit too firm for her tastes. She nearly dislocated her shoulder as she turned but her wrist remained stationary. She tugged a bit harder, trying to free her writs from where was trapped in her blankets and her eyes snapped open. She looked around quickly, taking in the clinical surroundings that she could see from where she was propped up at a forty five degree angle. The rawhide strips bit into her hands as she twisted them frantically. She could feel her guns still reassuringly firm against her side, but it wouldn't help much if she couldn't reach them. She tested the straps one more time and then stopped as the door slid open. She closed her eyes and feigned being asleep.

There was the sound of metal on metal as whomever just entered into the room began rummaging in the cupboards lining the walls. A dark blue glow lit up the darkness of her eyelids and she felt warm breath ghost across her cheek as something leaned in close.

"Wake up, strange human that knows our ways." The voice whispered, soft, low and sweet. "Your vitals show you are already."

Rose snapped open her eyes and stared into into a pair of dark blue ones, absent of iris or pupil. The alien was watching her with what appeared to be a mixture of amusement and curiosity. Rose tightened her arm against her side, reminding herself that she had weapons to defend herself as soon as she could get her hands free.

"We mean you no harm." Rose said quietly, her voice sure and firm. "We have done nothing to hurt you, or any of your kind."

"Oh, yes, I know." The alien said, giving a little twirl in the air as she floated in front of Rose. The alien let out a little, chiming laugh. "Nor will you ever."

"Then why are you holding us captive?" Rose asked, struggling against the leather strips.

"How did you know that override?" The alien asked. "It is far beyond what anyone in your Epoch and world should comprehend."

"I picked it up." Rose said, trying to shrug. "Awful useful, that."

She took a moment to ponder why there was no one trying to break her out yet. Knowing Johnson and Jack, she was rather surprised that the spaceship was all in one piece. Neither one of them took too kindly to being restrained. If the alien would stop watching her, Rose herself would employ one of the many tricks she'd learned about getting out of restraints while on the run with the Doctor. People were forever tying them up, strapping them down, slapping them in cuffs, and they hadn't always had a sonic screwdriver to fall back on. It was when they strapped down the arms down to the elbows that she found it difficult, personally.

"Yes, but where. You have the brain of an ape, barely able to sort out beyond atmo travel." She bobbed up and down, frolicking in the air. Suddenly, the door burst open and Johnson poked his head in.

"All right there, Rose?" He asked, and Jack leaned on top of him, poking his head in over the large guns on Johnson's back.

"Fine, fine. Found Emma yet?" Rose asked nonchalantly, ignoring the fact that she was currently strapped down to a table and unable to move, seemingly captive.

"No, hence the delay. We've been checking all the rooms." Jack answered, frowning.

"Go, go find her and I'll just...hang out here." Rose said, completely facetiously, but Jack saluted her and Johnson wiggled his eyebrows before vanishing from the doorway. She gaped at their absence. "You have got to be kiddin' me."

"They love you." The alien said, and Rose twisted her arm roughly, squirming her arm out of the leather strips, nearly dislocating her shoulder in the process. She stopped her struggles long enough to frown at the alien.

"Wot?" She asked.

"Why do they follow you? Why are they so loyal?" She drifted closer, close enough that Rose could feel the tingle of the electricity on her skin. "I've been watching your airwaves for months. You aren't particularly pretty, or smart, though you do exhibit a slightly higher than normal affinity for Artron energy, humans can't sense that. What is it about you that keeps them around?"

"Maybe it's my stunning personality." Rose said, yanking on the leather still holding down her other arm. "You're right rude, you know that?"

"What is it? What could possibly make them..." It leaned over so it could look deep into her eyes, the window to her soul, if she had one. She'd never been too sold on the idea. As the being leaned, their breath mingling in close quarters, Rose felt the familiar burn race through the nerves of her eyes, the precursor to all of her headaches of the last few weeks. She could see golden twirls of energy at the edge of her sight trying to flee from the container that it had been stuffed into. She felt something jolt her to the core as she realized exactly what it was. She knew that feeling, that the world was bigger than she'd expected and that the universe was right there for her. It's hum, it's heartbeat, the millions of stars breathing all around her in a flutter of wings. The alien shot across the room, humming in fear as it vibrated in place. "The w- w- wolf! Not just any wolf, the Big Bad!"

"Yes," The tone was sweet, high, rather like a child, but older than imagining, older than the universe. Rose could hear it speaking through her mouth and it was finally at that moment that she found that space in her head that humans couldn't normally access was currently occupied. And as it stirred, like something rolling over and speaking in a murmured, muffled tone. "And She's angry."

"Get off of my ship." The alien said, cowering in the corner. "Leave now."

"My feet are still strapped down." Rose, her voice shaky. Her head was pounding harshly, making her knees weak and trembly. "I can't get them free. I was always rubbish with feet."

"You have hands. Bipedal life form with five joint flexible hands, you can use them." The alien said, accusingly. Rose looked down at her hands and they swam in front of her eyes. There was no way that she was going to be able to wrestle with the ties that strapped her down in that condition. She was moderately concerned that Jack and Johnson had left her, but she knew that they realized she could take care of herself as long as she was conscious. The only problem was she was wavering between being so and wanting to just go to sleep for quite a while. It took all of her will to remain up on her own two feet, especially since they were not actually on the ground.

"Not right now, I can't." She said, sighing and sagging against the table that propped her up. She then remembered the knife in her boot, the one that Mickey gave her last year for her birthday in order to prepare her, and cut herself free. She fell to the ground, her legs collapsed beneath her, her knees now aching with the impact. She stumbled as she rose, or at least tried to but it was more of a fumbling fall until she hit a wall, setting off her head again. She staggered from the room and ran flat into Johnson's back. She blinked. "Thought you were searching for Emma? Thought you'd left me."

"Leave you with a mad alien that snatched us without a second thought? Are you bloody stupid?" Johnson asked, taking her arm and slinging it over his shoulder. "Course, we all figured on you being in a bit better state. What happened?"

"A...friend made an unexpected call." Rose sighed, rubbing at her head with the bottom of her hand. "Don't mind me, I'll be all right. 'Less I start turnin' a bit funny. Then mind me. Mind me very very much."

"Well, 'till then. This way." Johnson said, practically carrying her. They reached where Jack was staring at a row of doors in befuddlement rather quickly.

"Jack! What are you doing?" Rose asked, frowning as she stared up at him.

"There are about a hundred doors in here, and I don't even know where to start. Good to see you Rose, Johnson. Johnson, you take the right, I'll take the left." Jack said, before starting to open doors. Johnson placed her on the floor.

"Have either of you thought of asking Emma where she is?" Rose asked, sighing. She switched her com to more than just the immediate network mode and heard Emma's voice piping through.

"-and as soon as I get out, I am going to find one of you." There was a thud as if she was throwing herself at her door. "And then I am going to murder you. With my bare hands."

"Emma. It's Rose." Rose said, her voice to her communicator. There was a blast of obscenities and Rose waited until it triangulated her teammate's position before she turned it back off.

"You take all the fun out of life, Rose." Jack pouted, following his vortex manipulator to Emma's room directly. "A big row of doors, ones on either side. How can you resist that?"

"Easily. Did you hear her?" Rose cocked her head to the door, laying her throbbing head against the doorjam. "Tell you what, you wake up dead, an' I know where to go."

"What did that alien want with us anyway?" Johnson asked her, moving his rather large gun to sit comfortably next to her.

"Automatic emergency protocol when visiting a new planet. Picks up the most intelligent looking life form for dissection. Nanogenes imprint us, they take us apart and the Nanogenes put us back together." Rose said tiredly. "Only one crew member on a ship this size? Something happened here. The fact that it is letting us all go means that something happened that it doesn't want us investigating."

"Letting all of us go?" Johnson asked, picking up on what she wasn't saying.

"Terrified of me, so she'd let me go anyway, but the rest of you she would keep, and you never would have woken up if she wanted to keep studying you. She wants us gone. I intend to find out why."

Down the hall, there was a very annoyed grunt as Jack opened the right door. Rose dragged herself up and poked her head into the hall where Emma was sitting, indian style in the middle of the floor with her arms crossed her chest, glaring at them.

"Oi. Ready to go then?" Rose asked, smiling at her friend.

"There are three of you and not one of you thought to turn on your Com?" Emma asked dangerously.

"I turned it on, you were busy shouting." Rose said, wiggling her eyebrows at her friend. Emma made a sound of frustration and anger and Rose vanished down the hallway. This ship shouldn't have been that close to begin with, to have heard the call, and it definitely shouldn't have let them escape with only a sole survivor on board.

She made her way to the bridge, taking one look at the empty room that should have at least some sort of a skeleton crew even at this hour, and headed towards the sensor array. She was most interested in the ship logs and what they were running from.

A few short moments, and she had the system completely locked down to the control room. Aliens were constantly underestimating human's ability to compensate for new technology, an ideology that Rose rather enjoyed disabusing. She knew her brain was different, changing recently, but really, it was almost pathetically easy how she could take over their systems. At that time, she pulled up the starmap. They started appearing nearest to her, and after they got to the end of the Milky way, they stopped. Rose stared at them and then turned back to controls, hit a few buttons, then slammed her fist down on the console.

"Hrm." Rose said, tapping her finger on her chin.

"Rose?" Jack asked, knocking on the door quietly. "The alien is getting a little antsy about the fact that we are not leaving the ship. It keeps wailing about the wolf. Whatever that means."

"Come take a look at this." Rose said, rubbing her finger along her jaw line.

"The stars of the Galaxy, what about it?" Jack said, looking around. He tucked his hands in his pockets and shifted back on his heels.

"I set in the coordinates for the star path that the ship had followed. At the last part, this is the only part that has any information. The rest is just nothing." Rose said, pinching her fingers together and then opened them. The space between the stars got smaller, clustered into a smaller space, but the space around them did not fill. "Check back a few days or weeks," She waved her hand across the console and starts started appearing slowly, going outwards from the cluster in the center. "There they are."

"The stars are vanishing?" Jack asked.

"Checking the spectrometer, they aren't just vanishing, they're going out." Rose said. "Like they are running out of juice, like they are being used for something, used up and then sort of spat out, dead."

"What do you think happened?" Jack asked, sticking his hands in the cluster of the stars and rotating it, to see what stars are missing in the cluster.

"Haven't a clue." Rose said, shrugging as she leaned back against the equipment, staring at the shrinking universe. At how quickly it was contracting, they had a month, maybe, before they were swallowed up as well. "Still have a cell free in the manipulator?"

"Three, actually. Cleared out some of the questionable content that I had stored." Jack said, grinning at her. Rose rolled her eyes and then moved so he could download the data from the computer.

"Thanks. I'll need to look at this again later, but for now, let's go." Rose took his hand in hers, and the two of them left the computer room. As soon as they left the room, the alien charged at them.

"Get out. Get out! Get out!" It shrieked, circling them at a safe distance.

"I'm leaving." Rose said, gathering the other two, entering into Emma's room where she still sat on the floor. "You done?"

"I suppose." Emma said, standing and brushing herself off before she stood. She sighed and then hitched her equipment higher on her shoulder as she glared at Johnson who was leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe.

"Honey, I have two teenage daughters, glares do not concern me." Johnson said, grinning at her.

"Really? Huh. I was a teenage daughter once, you have my sympathy." Emma said, passing him as he fell in behind him.

"Jack's waiting outside, you two done here?" Rose asked, and the two of them gave her a look that made it quite clear that shehad wandered off and they had been waiting for her. "Right then, move out, troops."

They exited the ship and it was still parked outside the Chula ship that they had found earlier. Rose got Pete on the phone immediately, coordinating the pick up of the ship to take back to the lab. It was mostly intact, it appeared that the one of the engines had stalled, causing superficial wounds to outer hull, but the internal structure was mostly unharmed. It was the best ship they'd had in a while, and Rose couldn't wait to show Saxon. If she didn't kill him first.

When Rose got back to the Torchwood building, she sent forth the bevy of lab minions they had on staff to collect the entirety of the ship. Once the internal structure was disassembled and brought in, Rose cocked her head to the side and looked at it. She nudged Pete and grinned. "I'm going to need a bigger lab."

"Don't even think about it." Pete said, frowning.

"I'm thinkin' about it. I'm thinkin' yes." Rose answered.

"Is this it, you brought it back?" Saxon asked, elbowing Rose out of the way, and as Rose bent out of the way, she snatched the collar of his shirt and dragged him back.

"Oi, you." She said, and Saxon craned his neck to grin at her. "Have a nice date?"

"Perfectly peachy. Lovely girl." Saxon said, trying to squirm his way out of her grip. "I think I might marry her."

"Wot?" Rose asked, letting go of his collar in shock. Saxon twirled and scooted his way down the corridor. Rose chased after him, yelling.


	16. In which Rose plays Matchmaker

"I," Saxon exclaimed, leaning casually against her doorjam, grinning at her. "Am a right, bloody genius."

"Yes, we know," Rose said absently, frowning as she gave herself a papercut while flipping through some papers. She sucked on the cut for a second before continuing, "That's why we hired you."

"Oh, but I haven't told you why I am a right bloody genius, love." Saxon said, practically wriggling in glee. Rose put down her papers.

"You got it working?" She jumped to her feet, and stared at him intently.

"Well, no." Saxon said, fidgeting. "Not technically. I still require one more part, but it isn't exactly something that is easily accessible. An interdimensional transponder. Lucky for us, you've got it right there in your pocket."

"What are you on about, Saxon?" Rose asked, frowning.

"Your phone, give it." Saxon said, holding out his hand, palm up with his fingers wiggling. Rose dug in her pocket briefly and then handed it over with a furrowed brow. "Now after a few moment of Jiggerypokery, which I have a full masters degree in, and..."

Rose felt something grab her heart at that line, and after a moment, she realized she'd crumpled the paper under her hand and she smoothed it out with a self derisive snort. It was a moment later that she realized that she had just handed over her phone to a crazy mad man who already had a screwdriver out and ready to take it apart.

"Oh bollocks." She said, reaching forwards to grab her phone back. Saxon slapped her hand lightly and went back to what he was doing. "Oi. Gimme my phone back!"

"I'm just taking a part out of it. Then you can see what I made!" Saxon said, wriggling with glee. He then jumped as his pocket began to vibrate and he did a strangely contorting dance as he tried to hold her phone, his phone and the screwdriver at the same time. He tucked his phone into his ear and danced around Rose, evading her grabby hands and answering the phone at the same time.

"Yes darling? Mmmm, yes, Rose is right here." Saxon crooned into the phone. He leaned to the side, and then whispered to Rose, "Lucy says hello."

"Give me the phone." Rose demanded, holding out her hand imperiously. Saxon swapped her the phone, and Rose gave him a quelling glare before saying, "Hello, Lucy."

"Oh hello, Rose!" Lucy said cheerfully into the mobile. "Did you hear? Harry's taking me out to the tiny indian place off of Piccadilly tomorrow. Would you like to join us? You can bring that breathtakingly gorgeous man you were telling me about."

"Jack?" Rose asked, confused. She ran over all her conversations with the younger woman and couldn't recall when she had mentioned him.

"Is he the one that makes the lovely cuppa?" Lucy asked, and Rose gave Saxon a concerned look as he yelped, sparks flying out from her phone. He sucked burned fingers as he more closely examined the circuitry. Rose looked at him nervously before answering. "No, no that was another bloke. Mind you, the two of them might wander off if I give them half a chance."

"Both of them pretty? There's a shame." Lucy's tinkling laugh crackled over the line. "Still, couldn't hurt to bring them both and see how it goes."

"Sounds like the recipe for an interesting evening if nothing else." Rose laughed into the phone and Saxon pulled something out of her phone with a triumphant laugh. "Got to go, Saxon's done mucking about in my phone. Clearly we're about to all get in a load of trouble."

"Stay safe Rose." Lucy said, her voice turning nervous, worried for her friend's health.

"You too. That one is like a wild wolf. I am terrified what he is going to do next. He may just turn into an evil mad scientist and try to take over the world with bouncing globes full of blades." Rose rolled her eyes. She could see it now. He would call them his children, and tell them to do horrible things because at the end of the day, Saxon really just didn't get the whole empathy towards your fellow man thing. Certain people, yes, he could become fond of them, but humanity as a whole he tended to see them as bugs on his windshield as he charged towards the future.

"Oh, I think I'll be all right." Lucy said, and Rose could hear her grin. "I've got you watching out for me, don't I?"

"As best I can, Lucy. As best I can." She slid her eyes to look at Saxon where he watched her impatiently, tapping his foot. Rose smiled at him and then cupped her hand over the speaker and whispered theatrically, "But Lucy, he's crazy."

"Give me that." Saxon said, snatching the phone away from her. He motioned for Rose to follow him as he said into the phone, "Don't listen to her, baby. She's telling lies again. See you later tonight. Yes..." he slid his eyes to Rose who looked back at him, interested. "You too."

"I think I'm going to be ill." She said, making a face at him. He blushed pink and hurried off as he tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"Come along, then."

When they arrived in the lab, it looked like there was some sort of explosion of mechanical parts. Rose sighed as the lab should have had at least five other people in it, but it was suspiciously empty.

"Did you drive the other labbies out and make Tosh cry? Again?" Rose asked, sighing. "You need to stop doing that, yeah?"

"Poppycock. If they can't last through me, then how will they last in any other department?" Saxon said, shoving a stack of papers off of the table, kicking a few out of the way when they landed near his feet. He pulled out the parts that he had jury rigged up in sections and put them on the table that had previously held all the rest of the team's work. Rose hopped up on the table, swinging her legs as she stole a sweet from the bowl on Saxon's desk, popping it into her cheek. Saxon continued, "To be quite honest, if they do survive me, then anywhere else seems like a vacation."

"Doesn't say much 'bout you, does it?" Rose mumbled, lending a pair of hands when needed, holding wires and cables as he attached them to various nefarious outlets.

"It says that I am a genius, to be pandered to. I do so love pandering." Saxon said, grinning at her. "It is so cute watching them all run around on their little legs, doing whatever I tell them to. It's sweet."

"You are so rude." Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"And you're adorable." Saxon said, grinning at her and chucking her under the chin.

"I'm allowed to hit you." Rose said, crossing her arms. "Special permissions."

"Oooh. It's kinda scary." Saxon cooed, pulling back her hair to whisper into her ear. His fingertips trailed around her ear, curling around the shell. "Isn't it?"

"Saxon, back off." Rose said, jerking away from his cloying fingers. She hated how familiar he was with her, and she hated that she didn't hate it as much as she should because there was something so achingly familiar about him that she couldn't keep herself away from him for long. "What will Lucy think?"

"Lucy knows of my absolute slavish devotion and has no cause to feel anything but tolerant of my actions." He pulled his lips into a moue for her benefit before widening his lips into that too bright, too cheerful smile. "Besides, she likes you. Which could be fun."

"Not on your life." Rose grumbled, knowing that whatever he was suggesting would be highly inappropriate and rude. Very rude.

"Ah, finished!" Saxon said, clapping his hands together with glee.

"Really? Then what are all those parts over there?" She waved to a pile of metal orbs in the corner.

"Pet project. I'm attempting to harness the power of the human brain into a single network of the low psychic signatures that each mind gives out." Saxon said, glancing over at the hardware. "It'll be a sort of Archangel that watches over others, broadcasting any sort of distress signal over the network so if you need assistance, you can get it."

"Oh god, you are doing helpful, something for all people." Rose said. "You feelin' alright?"

"Also, you can lock down the brain of anyone, kill them instantly by looping back their psychic signature until their brain explodes, or send a sub telepathic message compelling them to do what you ask them to without them knowing." Saxon said casually. Rose rubbed her forehead with her hands and sighed. Saxon continued on defensively, "I'm working on that bit."

"Saxon!" Rose said, chastising him, looking at the pile of scraps. "No more pet projects!"

"But it is almost finished!" Saxon howled, looking like he wanted to take the pieces and clasp them to his chest, but his hands were full of the project that he was working on currently and he began to wail as she hopped down and started disassembling pieces that she could get her hand on. She got most of them when Saxon's grunt of pain drew her back to the table. "You do realize that that'll only set me back about a half an hour, right?"

"But a half an hour you have to do over." Rose said, smiling at him. "So what've you got for me?"

"Remember me telling you about that dimensional cannon, the one that could shoot someone through the walls and theoretically not damage them beyond repair?" Saxon asked, fiddling with one of the gauges that he was using.

"At least three times. Dull, but y'know, thorough." Rose said, hopping back up on the table to led him a hand.

"At least once more then. It takes the...for lack of a better word, stuff, between the dimensions and pinch it together, popping you through the membrane without breaking it, yes?" Saxon said, pulling up the schematics and diagrams he had previously shown her only in passing. She checked over the math briefly before rubbing the bottom of her chin with her thumb.

"The math checks out." She said, biting her lip. She frowned. "Would I survive the decompression of the null area?"

"Theoretically, you would be tucked in a pocket of this universe. You would be safe inside of it, completely out of the harms way. Only the slightest teeniest possibility that it would cause rapid cellular degeneration." Saxon said, waving his hands. "You could disintegrate the moment you get away from the point of impact. But that is only the teeniest tiniest chance."

"What about the hoppers?" Rose asked. "Why didn't that happen?"

"Membrane was porous at that time. Too many holes for things to go back and forth in." Saxon said, fluttering his hands as if his fingers were particles swimming around each others.

"If I go through, could someone come through the membrane for as long as I am there with no harm to themselves?" Rose asked, fingering the papers. "It wouldn't be completely closed behind me, yeah?"

"You keep saying "I", I take it you wish to volunteer?" Saxon said, narrowing his eyes.

"Don't be stupid." Rose said, "That'll take too long. Not to mention, so not going to happen. Pete'd never let me do it."

"That could be suicide." Saxon agreed, his eyes lighting up with the thought of the challenge of sneaking around with another secret project, only this time it was with a partner and had a smaller chance of going horribly, horribly wrong. "I've dreamt it, you've checked it. We could technically start testing it as soon as possible, but we can't know for certain until someone goes through and tests it."

Rose put her hands on the device, looking like nothing more than a bunch of pots, pans, gadgets and gizmos haphazardly glued together and she began to glow yellow with the shiny tendrils as she smoothed her fingers over the cold metal.

"Rose? Rose, you're sort of...leaking." Saxon said, rubbing a finger along his jawline, studying her.

"What?" Rose asked, listening to the silent part of her head that was beginning to stir with the thought of travel, the thought of adventure, the thought that the here, the now was about to be very, very different and it craved a change. "Oh yes. That happens."

"Right. Has anyone done any tests or something on you?" Saxon said, taking her elbow in his hand to stare at her eyes which had turned a bright golden yellow. "Rose, are you still with me?"

"'M fine. Just a bit of a hold over from my travels. I'm workin' on it." Rose waved off his hands. "Only shows up every so often. It's something like an extra intelligence in my head. But I'd like to believe that if it were going to kill me, it'd done it by now."

"Shouldn't you talk to someone about it, have one of the medical personal take a look at you?" Saxon asked, staring hard at her.

"What would they tell me? We can't see anything? We can't tell anything about you because it is "technology beyond our ken" as that one likes to mumble whenever they are around me. I've been through...Oh I dunno, MRIs, CAT scans, any jumble of letters you can think off. Not even that smart little doctor can think of sommin other than cuttin' open m'head and-" Rose's voice got tight with the panic that she was locking down quite successfully as long as she didn't have to think about any of it. She blew air into her cheeks to fill them and then said, "No thanks. Rather take m'chances with the crazy bit up here."

"Right. Well, if it starts saying things like "kill the smart one," don't listen to it." Saxon said, reaching over to put the shielding between her and him with a giant flourish.

"Course I won't. Not even the voices in my head can convince me to kill m'self." Saxon made a face at her as she grinned mischievously, the tip of her tongue flicking the top of her lip.

"Clever. Now come here and hold this." Saxon said, handing her a pair of needle nosed pliers as he flicked on the soldering gun.

Jack found them there, still in the lab, early in the morning hours. She had propped her feet up on the table, and Saxon had laid himself out over the top of it, his head pillowed on a Duranian stun laser that currently had the safety turned to off. Jack ticked and then started rearranging people and items to a slightly less deadly array. Saxon startled and then screamed as the laser went off under his head, scoring a deep, dark scratch along the smooth surface of the wall. It seemed to shiver, and then the edges closed, leaving nothing more than a dark grey line. Oh, the clever little nanogenes.

Rose started at the shrill girly scream coming from the table as Saxon continued while he tossed the stunner from hand to hand, trying to figure out how to turn it off. Rose groped for something squishy and threw a shoe after she slipped it off her foot.

"God! Just shut it off." Rose moaned, plucking at the side of her jacket, trying to pull it up over her head like she would her large pink comforter in her room. She then jerked, dropping her coat and looking around, bleary eyed. "Where the hell- oh."

"Were you two here all night?" Jack asked and Rose yawned while she rubbed her eyes.

"Well, to be fair, we didn't come in until after midnight." Rose said, sighing. Jack shook his head as he pushed her to a standing position and then towards her office where he knew her chair could completely recline without her risking falling over.

Rose, alone in her office and delightfully snuggly with lack of sleep was the stuff of Jack's naughty dreams, but he just moved her to her chair and sat her down.

"You are going to work yourself to death." Jack said, Jack's fingers digging into the muscles by her neck, massaging slowly around in circles. The tightened muscles relaxed, and she gave a little moan as his clever fingers worked their magic.

"Oh, but what a way to go." Rose moaned, tipping her head back in bliss at his ministrations. Jack gave a throaty chuckle, cradling the back of her head in his knowing hands. When he finished kneading her shoulders, he slipped a hand behind her head to tangle his fingers in the fine hairs at the top of her neck.

"You know, I just can't figure you out." Jack said, reaching up with his thumb to run the pad along the curved shell of her ear. He bent at the waist, kissing her gently on the lips, holding her still with a firm hand.

"Are you bored, Jack?" Rose said, her voice a bit tight with strain, now completely awake.

"A bit." He confessed, brushing her hair out of her eyes with one of his hands. "And you are very attractive."

"I am also very not interested." Rose said, her voice shaking. It would be easy to give in to Jack. Easy to accept the affections and care of a man that was clever and wonderful and with the amount of experience he'd had, had to be fantastic in bed. But Jack didn't belong here. She'd learned her lesson with men that didn't belong in that time, in that world, with her in general really. She wasn't completely stupid either.

"Do I need to get the psychic paper to show that you are lying?" Jack asked, amusement coloring his voice.

"No, but you might need it to show that I am right." She said, sighing. Her eyes strayed to her teacup stack at the corner of her desk and she smiled. "Have you met Ianto yet? More known as coffee boy, but he makes a right cuppa."

"Oooh, matchmaker." Jack chastised.

"More like, running a distraction." She muttered to herself before smiling up at him. She cleaned up some of the papers on her desk so that she could put her feet back up on her desk and slide down in her chair. She settled down into her seat, getting a proper nap before the surely taxing luncheon that loomed over the horizon. Jack turned out the lights as he left her, asleep.


End file.
